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DUKE 
UNIVERSITY 


DIVINITY SCHOOL 
LIBRARY 


54 


Digitized by the Internet Archive 
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https://archive.org/details/churchyear01armi 


THE CHURCH YEAR 


STUDIES FOR THE SUNDAYS, SACRED 
SEASONS AND SAINTS’ DAYS OF 
THE CHRISTIAN YEAR 


BY THE 


VEN. W. J. ARMITAGE, M.A, Pu.D. 


RECTOR OF ST. PAUL'S, CANON AND ARCHDEACON OF HALIFAX, N.S. 


WITH INTRODUCTORY NOTE BY THE 


RT. REV. WM. BOYD CARPENTER, D.D. 


LORD BISHOP OF RIPON 


HENRY FROWDE 
OXFORD UNIVERSITY PRESS 
LONDON, NEW YORK AND TORONTO 


1908 


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{ 
OXFORD: HORACE 
PRINTER TO THE 


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INTRODUCTORY NOTE 
BY THE LORD BISHOP OF RIPON 


ARCHDEACON ARMITAGE has asked me to write a few 
lines of preface for his book on the ‘Church Year ’. 
Every man who teaches has his own method, and must 
follow his own line of ministry. Archdeacon Armitage 
has expressed simply and clearly his own view of the 
teaching given in the Collects, Epistles, and Gospels of 
the Church Year. In doing so, however, he endeavours 
to let the Prayer Book speak its own message, and he is 
careful to let the Church Year give its complete teaching. 
He has very happily brought together quotations from 
various writers to brighten, illustrate, and enforce each 
lesson. 

In all wholesome teaching due proportion of truth 
will be observed. It is the failing of our own age— 
perhaps it has been the failing of all ages—to concentrate 
exaggerated attention upon some one aspect of truth, 
and to fling every other aspect into obscurity. In this 
way, no doubt, men’s minds are often recalled to some 
forgotten truth; but the nemesis is sure to come, when 
truth distorted or deformed is held up as the image of 
all truth. Happy is the Church whose sober and compre- 


592754 


iv PREFACE 


hensive order is a witness against one-sided teaching. 
However much individual teachers may insist with undue 
emphasis upon one doctrine, the worshipper under her 
roof is being quietly taught, as the seasons come and go, 
that happy and varied range of truth which touches life 
on every side. 


June, 1908. 


PREFACE 


THE object of this book is almost, if not indeed alto- 
gether, devotional. It will in some measure serve its 
purpose if it calls fresh attention to the great spiritual 
truths enshrined in the Book of Common Prayer, and 
awakens a deeper interest on the part of Churchmen in 
the rich treasures of devotion which the Christian Year 
provides. 

The treatment is in the main expository, and it is 
designed to couple the heartfelt devotion of the Christian 
life expressed in sincere and earnest worship with the 
great outstanding truths of the Word of God. ‘God is 
a Spirit: and they that worship Him must worship 
Him in spirit and in truth.’ The religion of Jesus 
Christ was intended to spiritualize all life, and to bring 
to bear upon our humanity all the rich blessing of a 
Father’s gracious love, the cleansing power of a Saviour’s 
precious blood, and the sanctifying grace of the Holy 
Spirit. 

While it does not profess to be an historical manual, 
much less a critical discussion of liturgical questions, or 
of points of interpretation, yet it will be found that it 
gives much useful information in regard to Church 
customs, advocates throughout sound Church principles, 
and aims to build up a devout and earnest type of 
Christian life. 


vl INTRODUCTORY NOTE 


The Sacred Seasons of the Christian Year are made to 
minister, according to their true intention, to the up- 
building of the spiritual life, increasing the spirit of 
praise and thanksgiving, developing every Christian 
virtue, providing means for the edification of Christian 
people, so that they may be built up in their most holy 
faith, and led ‘ to do all such good works ’, as God has 
‘prepared’ for them ‘to walk in’, to the glory of His 
holy Name. 

It will be noticed that in many instances the Old 
Testament Lessons are given and their teaching sum- 
marized. This method is also followed in regard to the 
Epistles and Gospels. The same plan, however, could 
not be carried out with the New Testament Lessons, as 
they are read consecutively from day to day, and are 
only heard on the same Sundays, at very long intervals. 
This feature obtains also in the case of the Psalms. 

It is the Author’s hope that in these days of enlarged 
vision of the Church’s work, and of world-wide oppor- 
tunities for missionary expansion; when the need of 
vital religion and of the deepening of the spiritual life is 
so keenly felt, and a revival of religious zeal and earnest- 
ness is so much to be desired, this book may fill a distinct 
want. His prayer is, that God, without whose blessing 
it can perform no service, will graciously use it to quicken 
hearts into a deeper love for Christ, lead them to a more 
complete reliance upon the work of His Holy Spirit, 
inspire in them a deeper devotion to His sacred cause, 
and a more reverent worship of His holy Name. 


W. J. ARMITAGE. 


CONTENTS 


PAGE 
INTRODUCTION BY THE LorpD BisHop oF RIPON Sept 
PREFACE. - F ; , cee iri: 
THE RATIONALE OF THE CHRisTIAN Year ti hee at 
THE SEASON OF ADVENT. - ; - ; : ho 
THE Nativity oF ouR Lorp: CHRISTMAS Day 53 
St. STEPHEN’S Day . : : ; F : : SnT6: 
St. JoHN THE EvANGELIST’s Day. . ; ; * 20 
THE INNOcENTS’ Day. : : , , : #425 
THE CIRCUMCISION OF CHRIST , : 5 ‘ .- 28 
MemOEPIrHANY SEASON . «5 +: «  « « (eB) 
SEPTUAGESIMA TO LENT : ; , z : 35 
THE SACRED SEASON OF LENT - cl ed EM liad, Sa : 
0 Ue a” 
Goop Fripay . : ; ; é ; ; : - +46 
EasTtER Day 68 oe BT DA ac. lee ROE Cn nse 
Tue Forty Days, FRoM EAsTER TO ASCENSION a7) 
ASCENSIONTIDE . : : ; : ; - ; HPP So kc: 
WHITSUNDAY - ; : 2 : ; : - 68 
TRINITY SUNDAY F ‘ ‘ : Z : . 7B 
THE SUNDAYS AFTER TRINITY IR a a 517, 
THE First SUNDAY AFTER TRINITY . : ‘ ~ 80 
THE SECOND SUNDAY AFTER TRINITY . : F peer 
THE THIRD SUNDAY AFTER TRINITY . F é , 36 
THE FourTH SUNDAY AFTER TRINITY * : . 88 
THE FirTH SUNDAY AFTER TRINITY . ; 2 oy yen 
THE SIXTH SUNDAY AFTER TRINITY : , ; We sie) 
THE SEVENTH SUNDAY AFTER TRINITY ‘ : « +6 
Tue EIGHTH SUNDAY AFTER TRINITY . . E Adee s0)0) 


THE NINTH SUNDAY AFTER TRINITY . : F Or 


vill CONTENTS 


THE TENTH SUNDAY AFTER TRINITY . : 
THE ELEVENTH SUNDAY AFTER TRINITY 

THE TWELFTH SUNDAY AFTER TRINITY ‘ 
THE THIRTEENTH SUNDAY AFTER TRINITY . 
THE FOURTEENTH SUNDAY AFTER TRINITY 
THE FIFTEENTH SUNDAY AFTER TRINITY . 
THE SIXTEENTH SUNDAY AFTER TRINITY . 
THE SEVENTEENTH SUNDAY AFTER TRINITY 
THE EIGHTEENTH SUNDAY AFTER TRINITY . 
THE NINETEENTH SUNDAY AFTER TRINITY . 
THE TWENTIETH SUNDAY AFTER TRINITY . 
THE TWENTY-FIRST SUNDAY AFTER TRINITY 
THE TWENTY-SECOND SUNDAY AFTER TRINITY 
THE TWENTY-THIRD SUNDAY AFTER TRINITY 
THE TWENTY-FOURTH SUNDAY AFTER TRINITY 
THE TWENTY-FIFTH SUNDAY AFTER TRINITY 
St. ANDREW’S Day . : F é a Se 
St. THOMAS THE APOSTLE : = : : 
Tue CONVERSION OF St. PauL . : ; 
THE PURIFICATION OF ST. MARY THE VIRGIN 
St. Matruias’s Day. . : ; : . 
THE ANNUNCIATION OF THE BLESSED VIRGIN 
St. Mark’s Day 7 : - ¢ ; : 
St. PHILIP AND St. JAMES’s Day. Tae 
St. BARNABAS THE APOSTLE . ; 3 : 
St. JoHN Baptist’s Day. . : : : 
St. PETER’S Day = : F 4 ‘ 2 
St. JAMES THE APOSTLE . = : : - 
THE TRANSFIGURATION OF CHRIST . s 
St. BARTHOLOMEW THE APOSTLE . 4 Z 
St. MATTHEW THE APOSTLE . : A E 
St. MIicHAEL AND ALL ANGELS - 5 : 
St. LUKE THE EVANGELIST . A : 
St. SIMON AND ST. JUDE, APOSTLES 

ALL Sarnts’ Day : ‘ ‘ ; j 5 


Mary 


THE RATIONALE OF THE CHRISTIAN 
YEAR 


HE Christian Year is the cycle of Sundays, Sacred 

Seasons, and Saints’ Days, which the Church in 
her wisdom has designed for the celebration of the great 
events connected with the life of her Divine Lord, the 
main facts associated with His work of redemption, the 
descent of the life-giving Spirit, and the truths of His 
holy religion. It proclaims the Gospel of Divine love, 
in all its fullness and power, and in due proportion. 
It teaches all the doctrines of Christianity, as revealed 
in Holy Scripture, in their right relations, from day to 
day, and from week to week. Its round of scriptural 
services shows forth the work of God for His children, 
from the creation of the world to the day of the 
glorious appearing of Christ at His second Advent, 
touching at every stage, from the first promise of the 
glorious Incarnation of Christ to His triumphant Ascen- 
sion into heaven. 

The historical facts of the redeeming work of the 
Lord Jesus are first given in their due sequence. The 
Church Year begins with Advent, which sets forth the 
preparation for Christ’s First Coming, and points forward 
to His Second Coming in great glory. In a most wisely 
planned system the Lord Jesus is shown in His holy 
Incarnation, in His manifestation to the Gentile world, 
in His Ministry of love and mercy, in His sacred Baptism, 
His self-denying Fast, and His sore Temptation, in His 
agony and bloody sweat, in His Cross and Passion, in 


L B 


2 THE CHURCH YEAR 


His glorious Resurrection and Ascension. The mission 
and work of the Holy Spirit are dwelt upon at Whitsun- 
tide; while on Trinity Sunday, a day which belongs 
especially to the Anglican Church, and the Churches 
influenced by her in Northern Europe, the glorious 
truths which spring from the truth of the Holy Trinity 
are emphasized. 

The Church Year divides itself naturally into two 
parts. The first division extends from Advent to Trinity, 
and is concerned principally with the great facts of our 
holy religion, and the truths which spring therefrom. 
It is the season, or division, which deals with fact and 
faith. The second part, from Trinity to Advent, is 
given up to practical instruction on the duties of life. 
It is the season of conduct, of the practice of holy living, . 
the faith of the first part leading to the practice of the 
second. Creed and deed are thus united. The Saints’ 
Days commemorate the lives of those who have followed 
their great Master Christ, whose lives proclaim the saving 
power of His grace, and who have glorified their Lord 
by their witness even unto death. 

There is in the Church Year perfect unity of design, 
combined with the utmost flexibility, and infinite variety, 
consistent with its definite purpose to show forth Christ, 
His work and truth, and to offer to God the worship 
due to His holy name. 

The services provided to meet the spiritual needs of 
God’s children throughout the Church Year are veritably 
saturated with the Word of God. They are illuminating 
throughout, for they shine not in their own light, but 
with that of the truth of God. The prayers are almost 
altogether in the words of Scripture itself. The Canticles, 
with a few exceptions, are inspired hymns of praise. The 


RATIONALE OF THE CHRISTIAN YEAR 3 


Psalms, Epistles, Gospels, and Lessons are directly taken 
from the Divine Word. The venerable Liturgy of our 
Church, as Edmund Clarence Stedman pointed out, is 
“one of the few world-poems . . . the most wonderful 
symphonic idealization of human faith . . . this poem of 
poems. I have called it lyrical; it is dramatic in 
structure and effect.’ It knows ‘no refuge save trust in 
the oracles which a just and merciful Protector, a per- 
vading Spirit, a living Mediator and Consoler, has 
revealed.’ 

We may well thank God for the splendid provision 
which is made by the Church for the worship of His 
great Name, and for the truths enshrined in the Christian 
Year, from which we may learn His holy will and com- 
mandments. — 

The sacred seasons of the Old Testament Church were 
of Divine appointment. They were intended of God 
to promote the spiritual life of His people, to illustrate 
His revelation of Himself and of His purposes con- 
cerning man, to keep alive His gracious dealings with 
mankind, and to point forward to the coming of our 
Lord Jesus Christ. They served many great purposes, 
and were at once aids to devotion, historic memorials, 
and prophetic institutions. 

The Church Year of the ancient Church of God was 
typical of richer, better, nobler things to come, all of 
which are summed up in Christ, ‘ the fullness of Him 
that filleth all in all.’ Indeed, it may be said, that 
Christ took some of the Old Testament Festivals, as for 
instance the Paschal Feast, and gave them a new 
meaning, and a higher purpose, as in the great Sacrament 
of remembrance, the Feast of Love, the Gospel token of 
His great act of full and perfect atonement. 

B2 


4 THE CHURCH YEAR 


‘The old order changeth, yielding place to new,’ and 
in the fullness of time the New Testament Church took 
the place of the Old. Its Divine Founder declared 
that He came not to destroy but to fulfil, The New 
Covenant fulfilled the Old, and while there is an historical 
connexion, there is a clearly marked distinction as 
well. The Christian Church, while it is built upon 
the foundation of the Apostles and Prophets, Jesus 
Christ being the chief corner stone, is a living Church, 
the source and secret of its life being the Holy Spirit of 
God. While not forgetful of the work of Christ upon 
earth, or of the labours of His first apostolic witnesses, 
still we may say with confidence that, historically 
speaking, the Church of Christ was founded on the Day 
of Pentecost. The life of the Church found its truest 
expression in worship and service. Worship it must in 
adoring love, in the spirit of joyful praise, in expectant 
prayer, the heart speaking to God. 

The Christian Year grew out of the organized worship 
of the Christian Church. It was a perfectly natural 
development, deeply spiritual in its conception, and 
intensely practical in its application. The great Chris- 
tian Festivals of Christmas, Easter, and Whit-Sunday, 
indeed all the leading festivals, arose naturally, as 
Professor Milligan remarks, ‘to commemorate in a 
distinct and individual manner the great facts upon 
which she rests, the leading doctrines of her faith.’ It 
is to the love of the ideal, wedded to the intensely prac- 
tical, that we owe the exquisitely beautiful idea of the 
Christian Year. It was, as Wordsworth says of England’s 
Church, ‘ By the hands of wisdom rear’d,’ and grew 

In beauty of holiness, with order’d pomp, 
Decent and unreproved. 


RATIONALE OF THE CHRISTIAN YEAR 5 


The Church Year is of the greatest practical value, 
providing as it does a complete system of Christian 
teaching. It furnishes the best possible means of 
preventing a one-sided view of Christianity from obtain- 
ing place in the minds of Christians, or of the Church 
as awhole. This is a matter of the highest importance, 
for we are open to the subtle temptation of laying stress 
upon some one view of Christian truth, which especially 
appeals to us, at the expense of some other truth just as 
necessary for a full-orbed Christianity. 

There is immense spiritual help as well, for, as the 
judicious Hooker pointed out, ‘to celebrate these 
religious and sacred days is to spend the flower of our 
time happily.’ What a power there must be, for instance, 
in having for four weeks every year, the all-important 
truths of the first and second Advents of our blessed 
Lord brought home constantly to the mind. And this 
not only in Scripture lesson, but in the preached word, 
in the heart-moving prayer, and in the inspiring hymn. 
Or again, the marking out of one day in the year, and 
the centring of all thoughts, of all hopes, of all desires 
on the personal Christ, as seen in His gracious Incarnation, 
His precious Death and Passion, His glorious Resurrec- 
tion, His triumphant Ascension, must have a profound 
and far-reaching influence upon the heart and mind. 
The same is true of the coming of the Holy Spirit, which 
we commemorate at Whitsuntide. Then, we remember, 
as a stimulating thought for the whole of life, ‘ The Holy 
Ghost is come.’ The Church looks up to the source and 
secret of all power, the Spirit of God. And who can 
estimate the influence the keeping of Trinity Sunday has 
had in preserving the truth of the Holy Trinity in one 
eternal Unity, amidst all the changing opinions of men. 


6 THE CHURCH YEAR 


The Church Year is itself a constant witness to the 
truths of our holy religion. It is the creed of creeds, 
furnishing a complete statement of the plan of Salvation, 
and it presents the great doctrinal truths of Holy 
Scripture, not in some cold and heartless form, but 
in a way which appeals at once to our affections and 
thoughts. 

The Church Year provides for the regular and due 
observance of Public worship. 

The ancient and scriptural offices of Morning and 
Evening Prayer have voiced the petitions of devout 
souls for centuries of Christian life, have afforded room 
for the heart’s confession of sin and need, and the trustful 
acceptance of the Divine promise of forgiveness ; have 
summed up the profession of faith in the Christian 
verities ; and have furnished the highest expression of 
the adoration due to God, the praise which belongs to 
Him alone, the thanksgiving which we offer for His 
providential care and love. 

The Litany, or General Supplication, which is used in 
the Sunday services, is especially appropriate for 
Wednesdays and Fridays. The need of a special service 
of supplication is apparent in any gathering for Christian 
worship. Indeed, the Old Testament Church raised its 
voice in humblest supplication in the inspired Litany of 
the Psalmist, known as the Miserere (Ps. li.). This was 
most fittingly used at the opening service of the first 
Pan-Anglican Congress in Westminster Abbey. 

The oldest Christian Litany is probably that found in 
the Apostolical Constitutions, which dates from the end 
of the third or the beginning of the fourth century. It 
would be difficult to find a more devotional, spiritual, 
or comprehensive service of devotion than the Litany of 


RATIONALE OF THE CHRISTIAN YEAR 7 


the Church of England, compiled as it was from many 
sources by the master mind of Cranmer. Sparrow boldly 
affirmed that there is not extant anywhere a more 
particular, excellent enumeration of the Christian’s either 
private or common wants, a more innocent, blameless 
form, against which there lies no just exception, and no 
composition so calculated to raise our devotions, or to 
keep them up throughout. It was said of the Litany, 
by one of our most devoted Bishops, that it ‘is, of all 
forms of prayer, the most richly Evangelical’, that it 
‘contains almost the whole Gospel.’, and that it resembles 
‘the golden censer of the Angel in the Apocalypse, filled 
with much incense, the prayers of all the saints ’. 

It is not our purpose to study all the offices of the 
Church, as she makes provision for the devotional and 
spiritual needs of her children. There are a number 
which are only of occasional use. 

There are two, however, which are required constantly 
throughout the Church Year. 

One is the Ministration of Public Baptism. 

This is a necessary service, made so, it is clear, by 
the fact that the Lord Jesus Christ Himself instituted 
the Sacrament, with which it is connected. It is not 
only associated with worship, but an act of worship of 
the highest kind itself. For Baptism is bound up with 
an act of faith, is founded upon prayer, and is a sacred 
ordinance of initiation into Christ’s Church, an entrance 
into a covenant relationship, an enrolment under the 
banner of the king. 

The second service, which is in constant requisition, 
is that of ‘The Administration of the Lord’s Supper, or 
Holy Communion’. 

It is connected with the holy institution which our 


8 THE CHURCH YEAR 


Lord Jesus Christ made on the same night in which He 
was betrayed, for the continual remembrance of His 
Death and Passion, and of the benefits which we receive 
thereby. 

The very words of the Lord Jesus Christ are repeated 
in the service, and His wish most carefully observed. 
The acts of the Saviour are performed over again, in the 
breaking of the Bread, the taking of the Cup, and the 
Celebration of the Sacrament. As St. Paul declared, 
‘As often as ye eat this bread, and drink this cup, ye do 
show the Lord’s death till He come ’ (1 Cor. xi. 26). 

For well-nigh twenty centuries, there has never 
been a week, never a Sunday, in which the followers 
of the Lord Jesus Christ have not gathered in some 
quarter of the world, which Christ came to redeem, in 
order to remember, in adoring love, the sacrifice of the 
Death of Christ for our redemption, to receive at His 
hands the pledges of His love, and in their heart of 
hearts to feed by faith upon the Bread of Life. This 
fact is in itself of very great historical significance. It 
shows the links in that golden chain of fellowship, which 
binds the believer with His Saviour, and all Christ’s 
believing people in one holy communion and fellowship, 
throughout all the ages. 

There is no Gospel, it has been said, ‘ like this Feast.’ 
It proclaims to the devout worshipper and to the world 
the atoning death of Christ. So it appealed to Luther, 
who said it is ‘a visible word presenting that to the 
soul through the eye which the spoken word presents 
through the ear’. Indeed, it might well be said, that 
the two Sacraments are pictorial representations of the 
Gospel : the Water in Baptism representing the cleansing 
blood, and the regenerating power of the Holy Spirit, 


RATIONALE OF THE CHRISTIAN YEAR 9 


and the Bread and Wine standing for the death of Christ, 
with all its life-giving and life-sustaining power : 


He devised the Feast of Love, 
Thus the coldest heart to move, 
Thus to bring Himself more near, 
Thus to make Himself more dear. 
On the sacred symbols feasting, 
All the love of Jesus tasting ; 

All the Spirit’s grace and power— 
Oh! the sweetness of that hour. 


% 


THE SEASON OF ADVENT 


The Collect 

ALMIGHTY GoD, give us grace that we may cast away the 
works of darkness, and put upon us the armour of light, 
now in the time of this mortal life, in which thy Son Jesus 
Christ came to visit us in great humility ; that in the last 
day, when he shall come again in his glorious Majesty to 
judge both the quick and the dead, we may rise to the 
life immortal, through him who liveth and reigneth with 
thee and the Holy Ghost, now and ever. Amen. 


When shall lighten forth Thy sign 
Through the heavens ? O Lord how long ? 
When amid the radiant throng, 

Shall Thy coming shine ?—H. G. Tomxrns. 


The night is wellnigh spent: the world fulfils 
Her season—on the everlasting hills ; 

Bright burns the day star! Yet a little more 
And all that lets will be for ever o’er. 


DEAN BURGON. 


10 THE CHURCH YEAR 


Lo! as the venturer, from his stars receiving 
Promise and presage of sublime emprise, 
Wears evermore the seal of his believing 
Deep in the dark of solitary eyes,— 
So even I, and with a heart more burning, 
So even I, and with a hope more sweet, 
Groan for the hour, O Christ, of Thy returning, 
Faint for the flaming of Thine Advent feet. 
F. W. H. Myers. 


HE First Sunday in Advent is the New. Year’s 

Day of the Christian Church. It leads the way 
in that exquisitely beautiful system known as the 
Christian Year. The Church, in adopting such a plan 
for her children, showed the highest wisdom, for while 
it appeals to the imagination, it also furnishes a care- 
fully planned and most systematic exposition of the 
Christian Creed. 

It is not without reason that the Church does not follow 
the sun or the moon in their revolutions in fixing times 
and seasons, but looks rather to Him who is her only 
Light, even Jesus Christ, and the first day of her year 
points to His coming at the first, when the incarnate 
Deity was 

Pleased as man with man to dwell, 
Jesus, our Emmanuel. 


The season of Advent heralds the approach of the 
anniversary of our Lord’s Nativity. It is meant to be 
a time of preparation for the due observance of the 
Christmas festival, in the spirit of the true Christian, 
who remembers that all his hopes for time and eternity 
are bound up with the incarnation of the Son of God. 

Advent is usually regarded as a penitential season, and 


THE SEASON OF ADVENT II 


undoubtedly it has that aspect ; but it is far more, for 
it looks upward and beyond, and carries in its heart the 
thought, ‘ Joy to the world, “‘ The Lord is come.” ’ 

The note of the First Sunday in Advent is a trumpet- 
call to Christians to arise and prepare to meet their King. 
The Second Sunday proclaims the preciousness of the 
written word of God, in which the promise is given of 
Christ’s first coming, and which everywhere foretells His 
second advent. The Third Sunday shows the impor- 
tance of preaching as a means for preparing the way for 
the coming of Christ. The Fourth Sunday sums up the 
lessons of Advent, showing the way in which the testi- 
mony of John, as to the Messiahship of Jesus, had been 
wonderfully fulfilled. 

The importance of Advent teaching cannot be over- 
estimated. As all rivers find their way to the sea, so 
all Scripture points to the second coming of Christ. 
There are upwards of three hundred texts which point 
directly to the personal return of Jesus Christ. The 
Lord Jesus constantly referred to it. More than forty 
times He used the truth for comfort, for exhortation, for 
warning. 

The personal return of Christ is a great Christian 
motive. It isa motive for holiness of life. It is a motive 
for earnest Christian service. It is a motive for mission- 
ary enterprise. It is a motive for constant preparation. 
It is a motive for patience amidst disappointments, and 
in the face of apparent failure. 

The personal return of Christ is a wonderful spiritual 
stimulus. It is a stimulus to courage, and to persever- 
ance, and to unceasing effort. : 

The second coming of Christ and our attitude to that 
truth is a great test in Christian life. It is like a 


12 THE CHURCH YEAR 


thermometer, and shows truly our spiritual condition. 
It tests: accurately our sincerity, our purpose in life, and 
the reality of our religious profession. 

The Advent watchwords should be Expectation and 
Preparation. 

The Christian Church is beginning to realize more and 
more the true spirit of the Advent season. That spirit 
is not one of gloom and fear, as of impending wrath, but 
of holy joy, and uplifting hope, and confident expecta- 
tion. There is nothing that shows this better than our 
Church hymnology. The older hymns followed the 
Dies Irae of Thomas of Celano : 

Day of wrath, O day of mourning, 


See the crucified returning, 
Heaven and earth in ashes burning. 


The newer hymns breathe rather the spirit of Frances 
Ridley Havergal : 
O the joy to see Thee reigning, 
Thee my own beloved Lord. 
Or there is seen in them the longing of Horatius Bonar : 


We long to hear Thy voice, 
To see Thee face to face, 

To share Thy crown and glory then, 
As now we share Thy grace. 


And they are most in accord with Advent thoughts, 
and Advent hopes when they voice the prayer of Josiah 
Conder : 


Hasten, Lord! the promised hour ; 
Come in glory and in power. 


* 


13 


THE NATIVITY OF OUR LORD 
OR THE BIRTH-DAY OF CHRIST, COMMONLY CALLED 


CHRISTMAS DAY 


The Collect 


AtmicHty Gop, who hast given us thy only begotten 
Son to take our nature upon him, and as at this time to 
be born of a pure Virgin; Grant that we being regenerate, 
and made thy children by adoption and grace, may daily 
be renewed by thy Holy Spirit; through the same our 
Lord Jesus Christ, who liveth and reigneth with thee and 
the same Spirit, ever one God, world without end. Amen, 


All my heart this night rejoices 

As I hear, far and near, sweetest angel-voices ; 

‘Christ is born!’ Their choirs are singing, 

Till the air everywhere now with joy is ringing. 
PAauL GERHARDT. 

Christ, He requires still, whensoe’er He comes 

To feed or lodge, to have the best of rooms: 

Give Him the choice; grant Him the nobler part 

Of all the house—the best of all’s the heart. 

HERRICK. 


Who taught mankind on that first Christmas Day, 

What ’twas to be a man; to give, not take; 

To serve, not rule; to nourish, not devour ; 

To help, not crush; if need, to die, not live. 

Oh, blessed day, which gives the eternal lie 

To self, and sense, and all the brute within. 

Tell them once more the tale of Bethlehem ; 

The kneeling shepherds, and the Babe Divine: 

And keep them men indeed, fair Christmas Day. 
CHARLES KINGSLEY. 


14 THE CHURCH YEAR 


HERE is no message like the message of Christmas, 
for it carries in its heart, not only ‘the hopes and fears 
of all the years ’, but all the good tidings of glad Easter 
Day, and glorious Ascension-tide, and holy Whitsunday. 
For Christmas commemorates the great central fact of 
human life, the pivot upon which the history of the 
world turns, the consummation of the hope of the ages. 
The key-note of Christmas Day is to be found in the 
Angels’ song, the multitude of the heavenly host praising 
God, and saying : 
Glory to God in the highest, 
And on earth peace among men in whom He is well pleased. 


The heavenly message comes in music and in song, 
for it carries in its heart great gladness, and enshrines the 
Gospel, which is the good news of a Saviour’s birth. 

The whole creation glorifies God. There is, as poets 
sing, a music in the spheres : 

There ’s not the smallest orb which thou behold’st 

But in his motion like an angel sings. 


The royal Psalmist who had long ago studied the sun 
in his mighty splendour, and watched his flocks under 
night’s sparkling hosts, or when the moon was beaming 
soft and tender, said, ‘ The heavens declare the glory of 
God.’ 

But this glory is of a far higher degree, and is ascribed 
to God in connexion with His great gift of His dear Son 
for the salvation of a lost world. God is glorified, as 
the God of Love, Justice, Wisdom, Mercy, and Holiness. 

It is a glorious message of world-wide significance for 
all men of all time, that the God who rules the world is 
a God of love and goodness, and mercy and truth. 

The Christmas message is one of Peace. On earth 


CHRISTMAS DAY 15 


‘peace to men and good will’. The Prince of Peace has 
come down from Heaven to earth. As the Apostle 
declares of Christ, ‘He is our Peace.’ Christ makes 
peace between God and men who have been estranged 
by sin. And as Peace is the fruitful parent of the spirit 
of peace, from peace grows peace, peace with God, peace 
among men, heart united to heart in loving brotherhood. 

The Christmas Message is one of Good-Will. ‘On 
earth peace, good will towards men.’ To the inestimable 
blessing of Peace is added Grace. The meaning evidently 
is, God takes pleasure in men, as the passage is sometimes 
translated, ‘Peace among men in whom He is well 
pleased.’ It isa message of eternallove. God treasures 
in His heart thoughts of good-will towards us. His 
Christmas message (may it be said with deepest rever- 
ence) is Jesus Christ, His last gift, His best gift, His 
perfect gift. 

It is no wonder then that Christmas is the Festival of 
the Home-life. It is the time for social gatherings. Then 
there are many home-comings, and glad meetings of 
parents and children. ' 

It is the Festival of Childhood, and as such it prevents 
the heart of man growing old before its time, from the 
hard contact of a cold world. 

It is the Season of Gifts, when friendships are cemented, 
and hearts are made glad by the thoughtful kindness 
of others. 

It is the Season of Charity and Benevolence, when 
Christian hearts go out to others who may be in need. 

It is all this, and much more, simply because Christmas 
has behind it the gift of a loving Father to His children. 
‘Thanks be unto God for His unspeakable Gift.’ 

The Church expresses her faith, and voices her praise 


16 THE CHURCH YEAR 


in the Proper Preface for Christmas Day : ‘Because Thou 
didst give Jesus Christ Thine only Son to be born as at 
this time for us: who, by the operation of the Holy 
Ghost, was made very man of the substance of the 
Virgin Mary his mother ; and that without spot of sin, 
to make us clean from all sin.’ 


# 


ST. STEPHEN'S Daw 


DECEMBER 26 
The Collect 

Grant, O Lord, that, in all our sufferings here upon 
earth for the testimony of thy truth, we may stedfastly 
look up to heaven, and by faith behold the glory that shall 
be revealed; and, being filled with the Holy Ghost, may 
learn to love and bless our persecutors by the example of 
thy first Martyr Saint Stephen, who prayed for his murderers 
to thee, O blessed Jesus, who standest at the right hand 
of God to succour all those that suffer for thee, our only 
Mediator and Advocate. Amen. 


The blood of the Martyrs is the seed of the Church. 
TERTULLIAN. 
Since the first man stood God-conquered with his face 
to heaven upturned.—JAMES RUSSELL LOWELL. 
. . Stephen, an unquenched fire. 
He heeded not reviling tones, 
Nor sold his heart to idle moans, 
Though cursed and scorned, and bruised, with stones: 
But looking upward, full of grace, 
He pray’d, and from a happy place 
God’s glory smote him on the face.—TENNYSON. 
Stephen, a man full of Faith and of the Holy Ghost.— 
Acts vi. 5. 
Stephen, full of Grace and Power.—Acts vi. 8. 


ST. STEPHEN’S DAY 17 


TEPHEN, the proto-martyr of the Christian Church, 

as his portrait is limned in the Holy Scriptures, 
stands out before our eyes as one of the most beautiful 
characters in human history. He is to the New Testa- 
ment, what Joseph was to the Old, almost faultless as 
a spiritual hero, a true man of God. He is pictured as 
a man of supreme faith, which issued in remarkable 
decision and strength of character; and in divine 
wisdom which lifted him above others in spiritual insight 
and intelligence. 

His name is full of meaning, is Greek in its origin, 
and signifies Crown. It is a singular coincidence that 
he was the first to receive the crown of martyrdom, 
amongst all the followers of the Lord Jesus Christ. He 
is the first deacon in the line of service to diaconize, ‘ the 
Archdeacon’, as the Greek Church loves to call him. 
He is the first martyr mentioned in Scripture, the 
leader of ‘ the noble army of martyrs ’, the first witness 
to Christ to seal his testimony with his blood. And his 
martyrdom was of the highest kind, for it was both in 
will and deed. 

The character of Stephen is worthy of the most careful 
and prayerful study. : 

Its blessed secret was Faith. 

He is described as a man ‘ full of faith’. It was faith 
in the highest degree. While others showed timidity 
and were in danger of wavering, he stood firm as a rock 
against every withering blast of error and storm of 
unbelief. His supreme trust was in Christ, in whom he 
confided with all his heart, and to whom he clung as the 
only One who could help and save. He was a man of 
faith, in whom that marvellous faculty, which is the eye 
of the soul, was fully developed, by which he saw, 

Cc 


18 THE CHURCH YEAR 

strange paradox as it may appear, the Invisible, just as 
some animals, as Robertson points out, have the strange 
power of seeing in the dark. 

The motive power of Stephen’s life was the Holy Spirit. 

He was not only ‘ full of faith ’, but of the Holy Ghost 
as well. And rich in privilege as the life of faith is, this 
is a higher step in Christian attainment. For while 
faith is the hand of the soul clasping God, or the eye of 
the soul looking unto Jesus; to be ‘full of the Holy Ghost’ 
is to enjoy the actual presence of God in the heart. 
Faith is a great gift of the Holy Spirit, but to be ‘ full 
of the Holy Ghost’ is to possess the fullness of His 
spiritual gifts. 

It is no wonder, then, that Stephen is described as 
being full of grace, as reflecting in his life the life of Christ 
in all its singular charm of gentleness and strength. And 
with grace, he had power, a strong word in the Greek, 
which we havé carried into English, in a term which 
deals with the science of forces, ‘dynamics,’ and in the 
expression ‘dynamite’, a material which possesses such 
great explosive force. 

It should be noted, too, that all the deacons were 
endued with wisdom. This was a necessary qualification 
on the part of men who were called to the conduct of 
affairs. Their chief duties were administrative. We 
usually think of Stephen as a beautiful and lofty charac- 
ter, standing on a pedestal above others in true nobility 
of life, in a spirit of detachment from mundane affairs. 
But we do well to remember, that he was specially 
selected on account of his discretion, because of his apti- 
tude for practical business and his capacity for work. 

Stephen, as the record of his trial shows, was possessed 
of marvellous intellectual powers, coupled with wonder- 


ST. STEPHEN’S DAY 19 


ful facility of expression and utterance. His eloquence, 
when he stood before his judges, was irresistible. They 
“were not able to resist the wisdom and the spirit by 
which he spake’. His adversaries could not understand 
it, but Stephen, like Micah, might have said, ‘ Truly I am 
full of power by the Spirit of the Lord,’ as his burning 
thoughts followed one the other, ‘in fit words andheavenly 
eloquence.’ 

Stephen stood the supreme test that can be applied 
to any life. ‘ He was faithful unto death.’ 

We may not feel with Bishop Woodford, that ‘ If he 
had failed in the trial, humanly speaking, Christianity 
would have failed.’ We cannot tell whether Stephen 
realized, that for a brief hour the world’s destinies had 
rested with him. But of this we are sure, that a great 
crisis had come, that as : 

Once to every man and nation comes the moment to 

decide, 

In the strife of Truth with Falsehood, for the good or 

evil side, 
so it came to Stephen and to the Christians associated 
with him. 

He stood for Christ. He bore his witness manfully and 
well. He was faithful to the teaching of the Lord Jesus. 
When the members of the Sanhedrin shut their ears to 
his speech, and in their mad fury turned upon him to do 
him violence, he lifted his eyes to Christ in heaven. And 
a bright and blessed vision was vouchsafed to him; he 
saw the glory of God, and Jesus standing at the right 
hand of power, as if watching with eager interest His 
servant, and ready to help and save and receive His 
faithful follower. They rushed upon him with stones 
in their hands, uttering frantic yells of rage, ‘ with 

C2 


20 THE CHURCH YEAR 


curses loud and deep,’ and they beat out his sweet 
young life in the dust, but even their fierce hatred could 
not destroy in his heart the fruit of the Spirit, which is 
love. And above the shouts of the infuriated mob, and the 
pelting hail of the stones, and their cruel thud as they 
fell on their victim, there arose to heaven a plea for God’s 
mercy on his murderers, a cry for their pardon, a prayer 
that their awful sin might not be laid to their charge. 

Professor Hort sees in Stephen the believer united 
to Christ the Life, and so he says he ‘ died with words 
of faith and forgiveness on his lips which disclose the 
calm and sane energy of his heart ’. 

It is thus that faith triumphs, that love comes forth 
victorious, and grace attains its perfect work. As his 
judges looked at Stephen, though they should have 
looked higher, they find that Stephen is looking up to 
God, and lo, his face is as the face of an angel. It is the 
benediction of the Father, it is the reflection of the face 
of Christ, it is the transforming power of the Spirit of 
God. Is it but a pious opinion that sees, in the light of 
the glorified face of the martyr, the reflection of the 
rays of the Crown of Life ? 


+ 


ST. JOHN THE EVANGELIST’S DAY 
DECEMBER 27 


The Collect 
MERcIFUL LorpD, we beseech thee to cast thy bright beams 
of light upon thy Church, that it being enlightened by the 
doctrine of thy blessed Apostle and Evangelist Saint John 
may so walk in the light of thy truth, that it may at length 
attain to the light of everlasting life ; through Jesus Christ 
our Lord. Amen. 


ST. JOHN THE EVANGELIST’S DAY 21 


Happy soul, above the rest, 
Leaning on thy Saviour’s breast ! 
Thou the dear disciple art, 
Ever closest to His heart ; 
Thou dost all His secrets know, 
Choicest of His friends below, 
Called peculiarly to prove 
Christ is God, and God is Love. 
CHARLES WESLEY. 
For life, with all it yields of joy and woe, 
And hope and fear—believe the aged friend— 
Is just our chance o’ the prize of learning love, 
How love might be, hath been indeed, and is. 
BrownineG, A Death in the Desert. 


The Disciple whom Jesus loved.—St. John xxi. 20. 


HE character of St. John, the Apostle of the Lord, 

is one of the most beautiful the world has ever 
seen. The reason lies on the surface: he, more than 
any of the apostles, was most like the Lord Jesus, whom 
Tennyson once described as a union of man and woman, 
sweetness and strength. And St. John drank more 
fully, too, of the spirit of the Christ. 

It has been well pointed out by the scholarly Lange, 
that while Peter was the first of the apostles in their 
relation to the world, John was the first in their relation 
to Christ. And the brilliant Grotius long ago remarked 
with great spiritual insight that Peter was more a friend 
of Christ (Christophilos), John a friend of Jesus (Jesu- 
philos), his bosom friend. Indeed, long centuries before, 
the golden-mouthed Chrysostom had noted the difference 
between the two men, and the two minds, and contrasting 
St. John with St. Peter, said, that he was loftier, that he 
saw more deeply, that he pierced right into and through 


22 THE CHURCH YEAR 


spiritual truths, was more the lover of Jesus than of 
Christ, as Peter was more the lover of Christ than of Jesus. 

St. John was the theologian of the apostolic band. 
He was also the philosopher of the Church. His chief 
study was God, and he sought constantly for first princi- 
ples, and fundamental truths. His chief concern was 
the spiritual, but he ever endeavoured to place it in right 
relations with the life of humanity. There was a singular 
appropriateness in the title which was given to him in 
the primitive Church, ‘ John the Divine.’ 

The symbol of St. John is the Eagle. But no bird of 
prey, though king of the species, however keen of sight 
and swift of wing, could ever truly symbolize the Apostle 
of Love. The oak is a natural symbol of strength, the 
sword of slaughter, and the only symbol that could 
possibly typify St. John is an angel. We take Scott’s 
great line, and apply it ina different sense, ‘A ministering 
angel thou.’ He not only dwelt in the truth, and lived 
the truth, but he carried it also tomen. In more senses 
than one, there was a man sent from God, “‘ whose name 
was John.’ 

The first glimpse of St. John in Scripture shows him 
as a disciple of the Baptist. He was one of the two 
disciples who followed Jesus when the Baptist proclaimed 
Him as the ‘Lamb of God’. Thus love was born for 
Jesus, and like his Master, ‘ having loved, he loved unto 
the end.’ 

St. John’s nature, when he first came to Christ, was 
fiery and impetuous to a degree. He, with his brother 
James, won from the Lord the title of Boanerges, sons of 
Thunder, because of the lightning-like vehemency of 
character which they displayed. The words of Christ 
were not only descriptive, but prophetic as well. They 


ST. JOHN THE EVANGELIST’S DAY 23 


marked out the men, who in their fierce zeal would call 
down fire from heaven to destroy the Samaritans. But 
these men, naturally so full of fire and impetuosity, were 
under grace to become men, whose lives like lightning 
would reveal character, and their voices as with thunder- 
tones arouse the sleeping and awaken the dead. John, 
however, son of Thunder, awe-inspiring and threatening, 
must sit long at the feet of Christ, before he can become 
John, the apostle of Christian love. 

John is a type of those great souls who bring forth 
fruit in old age: 


For him in vain the envious seasons roll 
Who bears eternal summer in his soul. 


He developed late. He completely traverses the modern 
opinion, which has gained currency in some quarters, 
that a man is too old for good work at forty, and always 
useless at sixty. He was old, as men count age, when, 
under Divine inspiration, he gave to the Church the 
Revelation, the marvellous Apocalypse of God. And he 
had passed the allotted span of life before he wrote the 
fourth Gospel, ‘the Gospel of the Incarnate Word.’ 
And whether ninety summers had kissed his brow, or as 
some think one hundred and twenty winters had left 
their frost upon his head : 


Of no distemper, of no blast he died, 
But fell like Autumn fruit that mellowed long, 


fruit borne for the great Husbandman, and gathered into 
the heavenly garner. It was his rich privilege to outlive 
all the apostles, and to lay the great key-stone in the 
temple of truth, which we know as the Word of God. 
James, his fiery brother, had been martyred with the 


24 THE CHURCH YEAR 


sword; Peter, the intrepid leader, had met the death of the 
cross ; Paul had carried the gospel to the Gentiles, had 
enlarged the vision of the church, and had at Rome itself 
sealed his testimony with his blood; but John lived on to 
complete the gospel witness of God’s grace, the story of 
immortal love. 

John is the apostle of meditation, the man of spiritual 
insight, the idealist who had the richest visions of God, 
and the reign of Christ in His everlasting kingdom. 
Meditation is said to be almost a lost art in our day. 
Robert Hall thought that it was essential to the revival 
and preservation of personal religion. Indeed all great 
souls acknowledge what an influence it has in the pro- 
motion of spirituality. We may not at once perceive the 
effect of meditation upon our hearts; it is, as Newman 
points out, so like ‘the unfolding of the leaves in 
spring’: but we eventually know it by our growth in the 
divine life. 

St. John has given us our richest views of God. What 
description can equal his wonderful words, “ God is love’ ? . 
All the other attributes arise from this great principle. 
The God of the Christian revelation is a God of Love, One 
who fills the heart, and inhabits the soul. What definition 
can touch, much less surpass, ‘ God is a Spirit’? It lifts 
the mind at once to the unseen and heavenly realities, 
and ennobles all our thought of the Supreme Being. 
And then the sublime conception, “ God is Light,’ follows 
in natural order. He is the Father, the source and secret 
of all light, light that enters man’s inmost being, illumin- 
ing his ‘ first springs of thought and will ’, and light that 
sheds its radiance upon the pathway of his life. 

There are many legends of St. John, and some are, 
no doubt, apocryphal in their origin. But one at 


ST. JOHN THE EVANGELIST’S DAY 25 


least so reflects his spirit, that it ought to be true. 
It is said that the Apostle tarried at Ephesus until 
‘extreme old age overtook him, and he had to be carried 
to the church services by his disciples. All that he 
could say by way of exposition or exhortation, was this 
saying, ‘ Little children, love one another.’ No words 
are wiser, truer, or more needful, and yet the Christians 
assembled grew weary of their repetition, and in their im- 
patience said, ‘ Master, why dost thou always say this ?’ 
The reply of St. John is well worth remembering, ‘ It is the 
Lord’s command, and if only this be done, it is enough.’ 
The Christian in faith, is able to take the words of 
Christina Rossetti, and make them his own : 
Yet shall I envy blessed John ? 
Nay, not so verily, 
Now that Thou, Lord, both Man and God, 
Dost dwell in me: 
Upbuilding with Thy Manhood’s might 
My frail humanity ; 
Yea, Thy Divinehood pouring forth, 
In fullness filling me. 


= 


THE INNOCENTS’ DAY 
DECEMBER 28 


The Collect 

O AtmIGHTy Gop, who out of the mouths of babes and 
sucklings hast ordained strength, and madest infants to 
glorify thee by their deaths ; Mortify and kill all vices in 
us, and so strengthen us by thy grace, that by the innocency 
of our lives, and constancy of our faith even unto death, 
we may glorify thy holy name; through Jesus Christ our 
Lord. Amen. 


26 THE CHURCH YEAR 


Sweet infancy, 

O fire of heaven! O sacred light! 

How fair and bright, 

How great am I 

Whom all the world doth magnify. 

Tuomas TRAHERNE. 

When they tread the heavenly ground, 
With the innocents at play: 
With their martyr palm-boughs playing, 
And their crowns, their voices rise— 
‘For our playground,’ they are saying, 
‘God has given us all the skies!’ 


HE day of the Holy Innocents is one which appeals 

with peculiar force to the heart. They were martyrs, 
the earliest who suffered for Christ, but martyrs only in 
deed, not in will. 

The three days which so closely follow each other in 
the Church’s Year are rich in teaching; the story of 
the Proto-Martyr of the Church, the life history of the 
Apostle of love, and the picture of perfect innocence 
suffering for truth. 

The slaughter of the infant children of Bethlehem by 
the cruel monster, King Herod, strangely fulfilled the 
prophecy of Jeremiah, which that great prophet, who 
touched such depths of human sorrow, has depicted in 
words of exquisite beauty and pathos : 

A voice was heard in Ramah, 
Weeping and great mourning, 

Rachel weeping for her children 
And she would not be comforted 
Because they are not. 


There is the story, too, of the bitter weeping of the 
exiles in Rama who in anguish of heart lifted their voices 


THE INNOCENTS’ DAY 27 


in lamentation over the pitiless slaughter of their weaker 
brethren, who encumbered the march on their way to 
Babylon. 

And now again in Rama is there bitter sorrow of heart, 
and heart-breaking lamentation, as torn from their 
mothers’ breasts the little ones suffer death by extreme 
violence. But there is a contrast, for the banished ones 
are not Israelites but Israel’s Hope, ‘the Holy One of 
Israel.’ 

God is able to bring good out of evil. The dark and 
unholy deed of Herod fixed beyond dispute the fact of 
the Saviour’s birth at Bethlehem. The voice of the 
prophet had proclaimed the birthplace of the Christ, 
it was written in the Book of God, and now Herod’s 
sword, mightier than any pen, placed the historic fact 
beyond question. The awful event made it possible 
also for the infant child Jesus to live in obscurity during 
His early years, free from the designs of sinful men, and 
with opportunity for preparation for His great life-work. 

The Innocents themselves were safe with God, and 
entered into the fullness of Christ’s salvation. While 
it is true that the higher life is that of victory won, and 
that virtue which knows the fierce fire of temptation is 
nobler in character than untried innocence, yet who 
does not feel that when little children die, they are 
‘saved from the evil to come’, and that their happiness 
is complete: 

Thy gracious Word 
Was as a pledge of benediction, stored 
For Christian mothers, while they moan 
Their treasured hopes, just born, baptized, and gone. 
Oh, joy for Rachel’s broken heart ! 
She and her babes shall meet no more to part. 


28 THE CHURCH YEAR 


This is the true source of all comfort when dear ones 
are taken, and the clinging tendrils of the heart, which 
were so entwined around the child God had lent us for a 
time, are broken. The infants of Bethlehem were closely 
related to the life of the Christ. And in this we have the 
whole secret of blessing. Faith, then, teaches us to say: 

She is not dead—the child of our affection, 
But gone unto that school 


Where she no longer needs our poor protection, 
And Christ himself doth rule. 


THE CIRCUMCISION OF CHRIST 
JANUARY I 


The Collect 
ALMIGHTY Gop, who madest thy blessed Son to be circum- 
cised, and obedient to the law for man; Grant us the true 
Circumcision of the Spirit; that, our hearts, and all our 
members, being mortified from all worldly and carnal lusts, 
we may in all things obey thy blessed will; through the 
same thy Son Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen. 


For love of us His woes begin; 

The Sinless suffers for our sin; 

The Law’s great Maker for our aid 
Obedient to the Law is made.—BESNAULT. 


HIS day, like so many in the Christian Calendar, 
celebrates an historical event. The Scripture nar- 
rative is simplicity itself. ‘And when eight days were 
accomplished for the circumcising of the child, his name 
was Called Jesus.’ 
The ancient rite of Circumcision was established by 


THE CIRCUMCISION OF CHRIST 29 


God as a witness to His people, throughout all their 
generations, of the deadly work of sin in human life. 
It was deeply symbolical. It pointed to the corruption 
of man’s life from the first, and witnessed to the trans- 
mission of the hereditary taint from parent to child. 
The very act of wounding the body was a mark of God’s 
displeasure with sin, and signified the putting away of 
‘the filth of the flesh’. 

Circumcision, however, was not merely negative. On 
its positive side it was the sign of a covenant with God, 
and denoted the separating of the life from nature’s 
defilement to a state of consecration to the service of 
God. It was an initiatory rite, a step forward into a new 
condition, an introduction into the covenant life of God, 
with all its attending privileges, and it was fitting that 
it should be accompanied with the sign of distinctive 
personality, the giving of the child’s proper name. 

The rite of Circumcision was to the Old Testament 
Church what the Sacrament of Baptism is to the New, 
although the Sacrament of grace is necessarily richer 
in meaning and content, than the rite of the law. The 
former was at least anticipatory, typical, preparatory, 
and served as a foundation upon which the latter might 
be built. The contrast is, however, suggestive—one the 
stern cutting of the flesh, the other the outward cleansing 
of water, marking as they do the difference between the 
terrors of the law and the loving spirit of the gospel of 
grace. 

There was no absolute need that Jesus should submit 
to the rite, for He was entirely free from the deadly taint 
of imperfection and sin, for which it stood. He was 
“holy, harmless, undefiled’, ‘without spot of sin, to 
make us clean from all sin.’ But He was obedient to 


30 THE CHURCH YEAR 


the law, and fulfilled all righteousness. It was thus 
throughout the whole of His earthly life, He observed 
with scrupulous exactness the Sabbath, He went up to 
the feasts, He kept the Passover. He early suffered 
for our sakes, the shadow of the Cross was even upon 
His infant years. He endured the pain and thus taught 
the spiritual meaning of circumcision, the circumcision 
of the heart and of all our members. 

The life of Jesus foreshadowed and pictured at every 
point the life of the Christian. For the Christian life 
originates in a spiritual birth, enjoys a spiritual circum- 
cision not made with hands, enters into its holy baptism, 
meets its days of temptation, fulfils its ministry, passes 
through its passion, meets its cross, and issues in its 
joyous resurrection. 

The poet Whytehead, in singularly felicitous phrase, 
has described the meaning of the Circumcision of Christ, 
in its relation to the Christian life : 


O wherefore bring ye here this holy Child ? 
Such rite befits the sinful, not the clean; 
Why should this tender Infant undefiled 
Be thus espoused in blood, while we have been 
So gently into covenant beguiled ? 
No keen-edged knife our bleeding foreheads scored 
With the sharp cross of our betrothed Lord: 
But we belike in quiet wonder smiled, 

While on our brow the priest, with finger cold, 
Traced with the hallowed drops the saving sign ; 
Whilst Thou unsparing of Thy tears, the old 
And sterner ritual on Thyself didst take: 

Meet opening for a life like Thine, 
Changing the blood to water for our sake. 


te 


31 


THE EPIPHANY 
OR THE MANIFESTATION OF CHRIST TO THE GENTILES 


The Collect 
O Gop, who by the leading of a star didst manifest thy 
only-begotten Son to the Gentiles; Mercifully grant, that 
we, which know thee now by faith, may after this life have 
the fruition of thy glorious Godhead ; through Jesus Christ 
our Lord. Amen. 


Sages leave your contemplations, 

Brighter visions beam afar ; 
“Seek the great desire of nations ; 

Ye have seen his natal star. 

Come and worship, 
Worship Christ, the new-born King. 
JAMES MONTGOMERY. 

Thou art the world’s true Morning Star ! 

Not that which, on the edge of night— 
Faint herald of a little orb, 

Shines with a dim and narrow light ; 
Far brighter than our earthly sun, 

Thyself at once the Light and Day! 
The inmost chambers of the heart 

Illumining with heavenly ray.—HILARY OF ARLEs. 


HE word ‘ Epiphany ’ comes to us from the Greek, 
and means ‘appearance’, or becoming manifest. 
Its use in the Christian Church is clearly indicated in 
the title of the Collect for the Day :—The Epiphany, or 
the manifestation of Christ to the Gentiles. The special 
reference is to the visit of the Magi to Bethlehem, at the 
birth of Jesus Christ, the Redeemer of the world : 
There swathed in humblest poverty, 
On chastity’s meek lap enshrined. 


32 THE CHURCH YEAR 


The first manifestation was to God’s chosen people, 
the Jews, the Shepherds of Bethlehem’s plains repre- 
senting most fitly their race. The second was to the 
Gentile world, through the Magi, or wise men, who fol- 
lowed the leading of a star until they found the Christ : 


A light that naught on earth can mar, 
A light that shineth from afar ; 
A beautiful attracting star. 


We may wonder at the means used to lead the represen: 
tatives of the Gentile world to Jesus. It is, perhaps, 
sufficient for us to know that the star served as a finger 
of God to guide them to the very place of their quest. 
__The expectation of the coming of a world’s deliverer, 
was at that time general, as the Roman historians, 
Suetonius and Tacitus bear witness. The Jews were 
scattered almost everywhere, and they carried their 
national hope with them. The wise men may possibly 
have heard of the promised Messiah through the dispersal 
of Israel, or the knowledge may have come to them 
through the prophecies, some of which, like Daniel’s 
great predictions, were uttered in the Gentile world. 

God led them at first by the works of nature, a star, 
a luminous body, under special laws to fulfil a Divine 
purpose. Then God led them, when they reached 
Jerusalem, by the Divine Word, for it was from the pro- 
phecies that the Sanhedrin, in answer to Herod’s ques- 
tion, gave the answer that Bethlehem was the predicted 
birthplace of the Christ. Thus was honour put upon 
God’s word. 

The visit of the Wise Men to Bethlehem satisfied all 
their expectations. They found the Christ-Child. The 
heart-hunger of the world there met its full satisfaction, 


THE EPIPHANY 33 


for in Bethlehem—the house of bread—they found the 
Living Bread. Their joy knewno bounds. They bowed 
in adoring love. They presented out of their rich store 
most costly gifts, gold, frankincense, and myrrh. The 
imagination of the devout sees in these gifts, gold for 
the infant King in token of His true royalty, frankincense 
as a mark of His divinity, and myrrh as prophetic of 
His sufferings : 
Sacred gifts of mystic meaning: 
Incense doth their God disclose ; 
Gold the King of kings proclaimeth, 
Myrrh His sepulchre foreshows. ~ 


All this may be but the fruit of our imagination, but it 
seems at least clear that the gifts were in reality ‘offerings’ 
bearing a religious significance, as the word is so used in 
Scripture, at least seven times in the New Testament, of 
an offering to God. 

pene Epiphany shows that God’s great plan of salvation 
is upon the largest lines. All national barriers are broken 
down. All social prejudices are set aside. Jesus is 
shown to be the Saviour of Gentile as well as Jew. The 
lesson is plainly taught that those who live up to the light 
that they possess, are led still further by the hand of God. od. ) 
They saw the star, they followed its leading, they reached~ 
the true Light of the World. They saw: 


O wondrous sight, 
Of lights the very Light, 
Who holdest in Thy hand 
The sky and sea and land,— 
Who than the glorious heavens art more exceeding bright. 


In the Greek Church, the Epiphany is called the ‘ Day 
of Lights’. In modern times, the saintly Muhlenburg 
D 


34 THE CHURCH YEAR 


seized the idea which lay at the root of the visit of the 
Magi, and celebrated Epiphany with an offering of silver 
and gold, for the work of Christ in the Mission field. 

The great Gift of God at Christmas leads naturally to 
the duty of the Epiphany. The shepherds made known 
all that they had seen and heard, and the Magi carried 
the glad tidings to their own country. ) In the Church of 
England, the season is one of joy, and the thought of 
service has been made the prominent feature. How 
fitting it is, that in the Church of England in Canada, it 
should be made the time for special offerings for Foreign 
Missions, the two thoughts being combined :—that of 
the offering of self for service, and that of our means for 
the spread of the kingdom. 

The First Sunday in Epiphany teaches the Lesson of 
Christ’s Perfect Obedience. The Second Sunday brings 
into view Christ’s Power as Creator, in His first miracle. 
The Third Sunday furnishes the picture of the Divine 
Healer, the Good Physician. The Fourth Sunday shows 
Christ as the Ruler and Governor: (1) of His Church ; 
(2) of Nature—wind and wave, and the dumb creation. 
The Fifth Sunday points forward, as does the Sixth as 
well, to the final Epiphany—the Second Advent, the 
Presence of Christ with His people.) 

The Lessons of the Day throughout the Epiphany 
Season have a distinctively Missionary outlook. This 
is especially true of the Old Testament lessons taken from 
the predictions of Isaiah, the great evangelical prophet. 
They show Israel’s place in the world, and sweep onward 
until salvation is carried unto the ends of the earth, and 
Christ Himself sees of the travail of His soul and is 
satisfied. 

The leading idea, the central fact upon which every- 


THE EPIPHANY 35 


thing else depends, set forth in the Church’s Year for 
the Season of Epiphany is that of the true Divinity of 
our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ : 

Faith through the veil of flesh can see 

The Face of Thy Divinity, 

My Lord, My God, my Saviour. 

The lessons of Epiphany are very precious, and very 
helpful. May we all be found amongst those ‘ Who 
follow Truth along her star-paved way’. It will surely 
be so, if in faith we look up and offer our heartfelt prayer 
to God : 

O guide us by Thy Light, that we 
The way may find, and still to Thee 
Our hearts, our all, for tribute bring. 


* 
SEPTUAGESIMA TO LENT 


Go not, with hat and staff, to wander 
Beside God’s grave and cradle yonder ; 
Look inward, and behold with awe, 
His Bethlehem and Golgotha.—RickeERrT. 


HE Christian’s mind is now set towards Easter. 

We follow Christ in His great Fast of Forty Days, 
in His Temptation, to Calvary, to the Tomb, and beyond 
to the Resurrection Day. 

Septuagesima is the first Sunday that points towards 
Easter. It occurs nine weeks, or about seventy days, 
before that great festival, hence its name, Septuagesima 
or the seventieth. 

The design of the Church Year has already led us to 
study the First Coming of Christ, and to look forward to 
His return in glory. We have also stood in thought at 

D2 


36 THE CHURCH YEAR 


His manger-bed, and watched His infant years. The 
great purpose of His coming has been brought clearly 
before our minds. Now we are called to look within 
and to discover in ourselves, in the light of the Holy 
Spirit’s teaching, the reason of the Saviour’s sufferings, 
and the purpose of His redeeming work. 

The leading idea of Septuagesima Sunday, as shown 
in Collect, Epistle, Gospel, and in Scripture lesson, 
is the story of the Creation of the world, of man, and of 
God’s gracious provision for our first parents. The 
first lessons, taken from Genesis i. and ii., give a mar- 
vellous word-picture of the origin of the world, and 
of life in all God’s creatures, leading up to man. Man’s 
life of privilege is also shown in the paradise which God 
prepared for him. 

The Collect is a prayer for deliverance from most just 
judgement. Its confession of sin is almost in the words 
of Scripture, for, as Nehemiah says, ‘ Thou art just in 
all that is brought upon us ; for Thou hast done right, but 
we have done wickedly.’ The Epistle is St. Paul’s famous 
call to a life of self-denial (1 Cor. ix. 24). The Gospel is 
the parable of the labourers in the vineyard (St. Matt. 
xx. I). The eleventh hour labourer called to the work 
of the vineyard receives a full day’s wage. Marvellous 
picture of the grace of God, who gives to him that comes 
at the last moment the same blessed forgiveness as to 
the man who came in the freshness of his youthful love. 
Wondrous grace, indeed, for both owe all to Christ, the 
Christian who has laboured all the day long, as well as 
the man who entered the service at the ‘ eleventh hour ’. 

Sexagesima is, roughly speaking, sixty days before 
Easter, as its name denotes. The Collect for the Day 
is an acknowledgement that we dare not put our trust 


SEPTUAGESIMA TO LENT 37 


in any one save in Christ. God Himself sees us, and reads 
us through and through, and we come to Him in prayer, 
putting aside all earthly trust, in ourselves, or in our 
works. And we ask God to be our helper and strong 
deliverer, ‘ that by His power we may be defended against 
all adversity.’ 

The Epistle is St. Paul’s word-picture of the trials of 
his life (2 Cor. xi. 19). He had many infirmities, and 
was beset with weaknesses on every side, but Christ was 
His strength. The Gospel is the parable of the sower, 
in which is described the sowing of the Gospel seed, and 
the results which followed (Luke viii. 4). 

The Lessons tell the story of the Fall of Man, the en- 
trance of sin into our world, and the ruin wrought by it, 
culminating in the flood. 

The Church teaching of Sexagesima takes us back to 
first principles. We listen to the story of man’s fall, the 
influence and effects of sin, and the ruin brought about 
by the tempter. But in the midst of it all there shines 
out the first evangel of God, the promise that the woman’s 
conquering seed shall yet bruise the serpent’s head. 

Quinquagesima is fifty days before Easter, as its name 
indicates. 

The Collect, which is one of the most beautiful prayers 
ever framed in human speech, is a fruit of the ‘ bright 
and blissful’ Reformation. 

The Epistle is St. Paul’s glorious eulogy of love, the 
sweetest lyric in all language (1 Cor. xiii. 1). It teaches 
us true Charity, which is the love of Christ shed 
abroad in the heart, influencing our every action. As 
Bishop Davenant says, it is ‘ A virtue divinely infused 
by which we love God for His own sake, and our neigh- 
bour for God’s sake.’ 


38 THE CHURCH YEAR 


The Gospel (Luke xvili. 31) is a clear prediction from 
Christ’s lips of His approaching sufferings and death, with 
which is combined the story of the infinite compassion 
of Christ to the blind man, who sat by the wayside 
begging, and received from the Great Physician, in answer 
to the prayer of faith, the blessing that he sought, the 
light of heaven pouring in through the windows of his 
soul, and flooding his inmost being with its soft radiance. 

The Old Testament Lessons take us a step further in 
the history of redemption (Gen. ix. to ver. 20), giving the 
covenant of the bow in the cloud ; and (Gen. xii. or xiii.) 
the story of Abraham, with its supreme lesson of faith. 

We have been led in the three Sundays before Lent to 
see the meaning of sin, its guilt and power; we have 
been taught to look to God alone for deliverance, to 
Christ our only Saviour, and now we discover the blessed 
secret of it all: Faith that works by Love. 


THE SACRED SEASON OF LENT 


There is no grief that ever wasted man, 
But finds its Hour here in thine awful Week.— KEBLE. 


What then ? What rests ? 


Try what repentance can! What can it not? 
SHAKESPEARE, 


Prostrate your soul in penitential prayer ! 

Humble your heart beneath the mighty hand 

Of God, whose gracious guidance oft shall lead 
Through sin and crime the changed and melted heart, 
To sweet repentance and the sense of Him.—C.LouGu. 


’Tis true we cannot reach Christ’s fortieth day, 
Yet to go part of that religious way 
Is better than no deed. 


THE SACRED SEASON OF LENT 39 


Neither ought other men’s abuse of Lent, 
Spoil the good use, lest by that argument 
We forfeit all our creed.—HERBERT. 


HE return of the Season of Lent with its golden 

privileges, rich opportunities, and holy duties, is 
a special call to us to remember amidst all the pressure 
of the world’s life, God’s claim upon us to live for Him and 
to walk with Him. The world is ever near, the flesh is 
weak, and in a strenuous age of hurry and incessant work, 
when leisure is so often given to amusement, athleticism, 
or light and desultory reading, there is great need of 
a special religious season to remind us of what true life 
really is, and to move us to seek it where alone it can 
be found, in Christ, and to use the aids which God has 
given us for its sustenance and development. 

There is an increasing feeling on the part of all thought- 
ful Christians that the spiritual life requires seasons set 
apart especially for meditation, for definite heart-search- 
ing, for united prayer, for more systematic Bible study 
and for a larger use of the Means of Grace. It is gener- 
ally acknowledged that God’s blessing has been vouch- 
safed in large measure to those who have thus sought 
in Christ the deepening and enriching of spiritual life. 
And not a few have been led from indifference, and 
worldliness, and sin, to the Lord Jesus Christ for pardon, 
peace, and service. 

In this matter we are not left to human caprice by our 
beloved Church. The season of Lent affords just the 
opportunity which is required for special services and 
- is a clear call to the whole Church to Self-examination 
concerning open and secret sins, ‘ Repentance toward 
God,’ ‘ Faith in the Lord Jesus Christ,’ and a life of self- 


40 THE CHURCH YEAR 


denying and self-sacrificing service always ‘ abounding 
in the work of the Lord’, 
« The supreme purpose of Lent is to lead Christians to 
/ a life of entire consecration to God, of ourselves, our 
souls and bodies, ‘a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable 
unto God,’ which St. Paul declares is our reasonable 
service. The Scripture call is clear, concise, and definite. 
‘Be not conformed to this world : but be ye transformed 
by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what 
is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God.’ 
The spirit of Lent is not necessarily gloomy and sad. 
There is in high resolve, and deep self-denial, something 
of the feeling of stern and holy joy. While it deals with 
the life of the individual, it is the opposite to that view 
which allows life to be self-centred even in the search for 
spiritual good. The Christian is, as the current phrase 
runs, ‘saved to serve.’ Like his Divine Master, he is 
to go about doing good. There is at our door a large 
field for Christian enterprise, for thousands around us 
care but little for the things of God. Many have no 
thought of a Saviour’s love or of the value of their souls, 
and are living in open sin. Let each Christian man and 
woman in all our congregations make an earnest effort 
during Lent to seek out some careless one and to lead 
at least one soul to Christ. Let no man or woman with 
whom you have to do cry at the last with the heart- 
break of despair, ‘ No man cared for my soul.’ 
he main intention of Lent is that it should be a School 
oi Christ, in which we sit as disciples at the feet of the 
Master who is the Truth. It is forty days of spiritual 
training in the things of Christ, as a preparation for 
higher and better service in His Name. 
It is true that we should always live near to Christ, 


THE SACRED SEASON OF LENT 41 


and walk with Him, and follow Him in true discipleship. 
Still it is well in a busy age to have special seasons for 
meditation, self-examination, and spiritual refreshment. 
Just as the Lord’s Day, one day in the long seven, is 
a time marked out for rest and worship and most helpful 
in Christian progress, as Christmas brings before us the 
special lesson of the Incarnation, Good Friday the 
Passion, and Easter the Resurrection ; so Lent has its 
place as a special season in which the soul can make 
more earnest and frequent use of the means of 
grace. 

It comes with its call to the careless and indifferent, 
to the pleasure seeker, to those absorbed in this world’s 
affairs, to those who are actively engaged in their several 
occupations ; to remember the true meaning of life, to 
look up and beyond the brief day of our earthly existence, 
to face the realities of Life, Death, Eternity, Heaven, 
and Hell. 

It comes with its gracious invitation to a life of 
deeper and fuller consecration, to those who have tasted 
that the Lord is gracious, but who seem to rest satisfied 
with a low ideal of Christian attainment. 

It comes to all Christians who long for fuller com- 
munion with God, and greater power for service, with its 
golden opportunities for prayer, meditation and Bible 
study which, when rightly used, are splendid aids in 
spiritual development and growth in the Divine life. 

The Christian is called not only to a state of salvation, 
but to a life of holiness, as Andrew Murray says : ‘ Salva- 
tion in holiness.’ We are to rejoice in the truth, ‘ Christ 
for us our atonement,’ and to go on to the blessed realiza- 
tion of ‘ Christ in us the hope of glory’. Not only safe 
in Christ, but holy in Christ, is to be our goal. Well may 


42 THE CHURCH YEAR 


we pray in the words of the devout and deeply mystical 
Lavater, whose cry was, ‘I would Thy living image be’: 
O Jesus Christ grow Thou in me, 
And all things else recede ! 
My heart be daily nearer Thee, 
From sin be daily freed. 

The Lenten season affords peculiar opportunities to 
the Christian for the deepening of the spiritual life. He 
is reminded of the dangers to which that life is exposed, 
especially of formalism with its blighting effects, and of 
emotionalism which allows the higher feelings to evapo- 
rate in thought and word leading to barrenness of 
soul. 

Christ Himself has taught us the value of retirement 
for meditation, devout study and communion with God. 
“Come ye yourselves apart and rest awhile.’ The Old 
Testament saints walked with God in spiritual com- 
munion. They sought opportunities to be alone with 
God. [The Lenten call is to walk with Christ daily, so 
that its forty days may be like forty steps of wonderful 
privilege in-spiritual intercourse and heart converse with 
Him who is the Way, the Truth, and the Life. \The 
closer the walk with Christ, the deeper the spirit of 
penitence, the more earnest the faith, the richer will be 
the joy of Easter. i 

Lent should mean to us forty steps of progress in the 
Divine Life: 

Less, less of self each day ; 
Less of the world and sin; 

More of Thy Son, I pray, 
More of Thyself within. 

May the Forty days of Lent bring to us some special 
blessing, in the strength of which we may enter into a 


THE SACRED SEASON OF LENT 43 


larger and fuller Christian service, and may we spend its 
forty days in such a spirit of devotion to our Blessed 
Lord that we may be in the spirit to enter into the joy 
and peace of the glorious Festival of the Resurrection 
on the happy Easter Day. 


% 


THE FIRST DAY OF LENT 
COMMONLY CALLED 
ASH WEDNESDAY 


The Collect 

ALMIGHTY and everlasting God, who hatest nothing that 
thou hast made, and dost forgive the sins of all them that 
are penitent: Create and make in us new and contrite 
hearts, that we, worthily lamenting our sins and acknow- 
ledging our wretchedness, may obtain of thee the God of 
all mercy, perfect remission and forgiveness ; through Jesus 
Christ our Lord. Amen. 


The tears of penitents are the wine of angels. 


Tears that sweeter far 

Than the mad world’s laughter are. 
Man-like it is to fall into sin ; 
Fiend-like it is to dwell therein ; 
Saint-like it is for sin to grieve ; 
Christ-like it is all sin to leave. 


SH WEDNESDAY ushers in the solemn season, 
and gives colour to the whole of Lent. Its very 
name is significant, and points back to the days when 
there was a literal self-abasement to the very ground, 
in dust and ashes, by sorrowing penitents. Its spirit 


44 THE CHURCH YEAR 


was well expressed in that Dies Irae of the thirteenth 
century, by Thomas of Celano : 


Low I kneel with heart submission ; 
See like ashes my contrition ; 
Save, O save me from perdition. 


The great, all-absorbing thought of the Day is Repen- 


tance. Its spirit is that of true Contrition for sin. 

Repentance is one of the great words of the New 
Testament. It is used more than sixty times in the 
revelation of God’s truth to us. In fifty-eight places in 
the original Greek, the word used is metanoia, composed 
of two words, meta, after, and nous, knowledge or thought. 
Its meaning is stamped on its face, and need never be 
misunderstood, an afterthought, or a change of mind. 

The explanations of Scripture are the most illuminating 
of all. Indeed, Scripture explains itself to the Spirit- 
taught student of the Divine Word. In the Parable of 
the Two Sons, we have our blessed Lord’s own interpre- 
tation of repentance (Matt. xxi. 28-32). One son said, 
it will be remembered, ‘I will not’: but afterwards he 
repented, and went. It is clear that what he did was 
to change his mind. His first thought was his own 
selfish one ; he gave that up, he changed his own selfish 
mind into harmony with his father’s wish, and made his 
father’s mind his own. 

Repentance, as our Catechism so succinctly defines it, 
is the forsaking of sin. ‘ Repentance whereby they 
forsake sin.’ It is godly sorrow, coupled with self- 
condemnation, and a complete turning away from sin. 
It is our true, and willing, and unconditional “ Yea’, 
instead of the old and selfish and sinful ‘ Nay’ to God’s 
commands. It is well illustrated by the Prodigal, who 


ASH WEDNESDAY 45 


first came to himself, saw himself in his true light, then 
turned from himself to his father. 

Luther learned its meaning in a rich, but most trying 
experience. There are two paintings which tell the story 
of his spiritual development. In one, he is the young 
monk, labouring to discover the way of salvation. He 
is pictured as standing before a chained Bible, with 
stooping figure, emaciated, worn with vigils, pale of 
face, and with eyes which tell of the fear which reigns 
within. He knows only the man-made way of penance, to 
be gained, he thinks, by painful effort and self-torturing 
endeavour. But Staupitz, the vicar-general, has been 
taught by the Holy Spirit, and he advises Luther : 
“Instead of torturing yourself for your faults, cast your- 
self into the arms of your Redeemer.’ ‘ True repentance 
begins in the love of God.’ ‘ Love Him who first loved 
you.’ In the second picture, Luther is painted standing 
erect, bold and fearless, serene of countenance, peaceful 
in expression. He has an unchained Bible in his hands. 
He has discovered, as he told Staupitz, that the word 
Repentance, which he once thought was the most terrible 
in the Bible, is really the most joyous. The passages in 
the Bible which speak of repentance and conversion, 
he declared, seem to run to him from all sides, to smile, 
to spring up, and to play around him. 

The importance of right views of Repentance cannot 
be over-estimated. The difference between the true and 
the false affects the whole question of religion. It has 
been said that repentance and faith are the beginning 
of Christianity. They are amongst the first principles 
upon which all else depends. They have been com- 
pared with the two lobes of the heart, distinct and yet so 
united that they beat with one full pulse of spiritual life, 


46 THE CHURCH YEAR 


The Lord Jesus Christ declared that repentance is 
necessary to salvation. He said that it is the great 
subject of the praise and joy of the angels in heaven. 
St. Paul described his teaching as consisting of two great 
foundation truths and fundamental principles: “Repen- — 
tance toward God, and faith toward our Lord Jesus 
Christ.’ 

he 


GOOD FRIDAY 


The Collects 
AtmIGHTy Gop, we beseech thee graciously to behold 
this thy family, for which our Lord Jesus Christ was con- 
tented to be betrayed, and given up into the hands of wicked 
men, and to suffer death upon the cross, who now liveth 
and reigneth with thee and the Holy Ghost, ever one God, 
world without end. Amen. 


ALMIGHTY and everlasting God, by whose Spirit the whole 
body of the Church is governed and sanctified; Receive 
our supplications and prayers, which we offer before thee 
for all estates of men in thy holy Church, that every member 
of the same, in his vocation and ministry, may truly and 
godly serve thee; through our Lord and Saviour Jesus 
Christ. Amen. 


O MERcIFUL Gop, who hast made all men, and hatest 
nothing that thou hast made, nor wouldest the death of a 
sinner, but rather that he should be converted and live ; 
Have mercy upon all Jews, Turks, Infidels, and Hereticks, 
and take from them all ignorance, hardness of heart, and 
contempt of thy Word; and so fetch them home, blessed 
Lord, to thy flock, that they may be saved among the 
remnant of the true Israelites, and be made one fold under 
one shepherd, Jesus Christ our Lord, who liveth and 
reigneth with thee and the Holy Spirit, one God, world 
without end. Amen. 


GOOD FRIDAY ) 47 


As a sacrifice 
Glad to be offered, He attends the will 
Of His great Father.—MILTOoN. 
From pain to pain, from woe to woe, 
With loving hearts and footsteps slow, 
To Calvary with Christ we go. 


Was ever grief like His ? Was ever sin like ours ? 
FABER. 
To the cross He nails thine enemies, 
The Law that is against thee, and the sins 
Of all mankind with Him there crucified— 
Never to hurt them more, who rightly trust 
In this His satisfaction.—MILTON. 
Oh heart I made, a Heart beats here! 
Face, My hands fashioned, see it in Myself! 
Thou hast no power, nor mayst conceive of Mine, 
But love I gave thee, with Myself to love, 
And thou must love Me, who have died for thee, 
BROWNING. 


HE Friday before Easter has long been observed as 

the great day of commemoration of the Death of 
Christ, when ‘by His one oblation of Himself once offered,’ 
He made ‘ a full, perfect, and sufficient sacrifice, oblation, 
and satisfaction, for the sins of the whole world.’ The 
expressive term, ‘Good Friday,’ has gained almost 
universal acceptance from its use by the Anglican Com- 
munion, instead of the name formerly employed: the 
Day of the Cross, the Day of Salvation, the pascha of 
the Crucifixion. 

The day has been observed from the earliest times 
with great solemnity by the Church of Christ. It is 
a solemn day, a day of solemn sadness on account of 
our sins, that crucified the Lord of Life, a day of solemn 


48 THE CHURCH YEAR 


gladness for the salvation which He brought to all 
mankind. 

The great central truth of Christianity, that Christ 
died for our sins, is brought before the minds of men 
by every means the Church can use on Good Friday. 
It is as if with one voice the proclamation were made 
everywhere, in the very words of St. Paul: ‘For I 
determined not to know anything among you, save 
Jesus Christ and Him crucified.’ 

There were many truths of the Christian religion which 
must have appealed to the mind of St. Paul with peculiar 
force, for he was a philosopher as well as a theologian— 
a deep ihinker in the region of metaphysical inquiry. 
There must have been a fascination to him in the dis- 
cussion of such subjects as the being and attributes of 
God, His providential dealings with mankind, the 
origin and destiny of man and the high moral teaching 
of Christ. 

And yet he declares that there is one subject of such 
pre-eminent importance that he has determined to shut 
all else out from his teaching in Corinth, and to know 
nothing but Christ and Him crucified. 

And St. Paul who takes this position is one of the 
wisest of men. He is an opportunist, in a good, a Chris- 
tian, sense. He is willing to become all things to all men, 
if by any means he may save some. He is a man of 
affairs, a trained speaker who desires to win his audience 
to his views without exciting their prejudices. He is 
tempted to gain a way for the reception of the gospel by 
the use of worldly policy, that is, by eliminating from 
his message that which was particularly distasteful to 
his hearers. And leaving out of account His crucifixion, 
Jesus Christ appealed with irresistible force to the men 


GOOD FRIDAY 49 


of His time. For was He not a Jew of the Jews, con- 
nected with their royal house and embodying their 
national hopes and aspirations ; a zealous advocate of 
their law, and a teacher of their sacred Scriptures ? And 
as for the Gentile world, did He not rise above the narrow 
exclusiveness of His race ? Was He not an advocate of 
law and order, a loyal subject, rendering unto Caesar his 
due ? And as a teacher in the school of truth did He not 
throw light upon the problems of philosophic thought ? 
We can well imagine the influence of the personality 
and of the teaching of Jesus Christ upon any unpreju- 
diced mind brought in contact with either. Richard 
Watson Gilder has well explained it in his ‘ Song of a 
Heathen Sojourning in Galilee A.D. 32’: 
If Jesus Christ is a man— 
And only a man—I say 
That of all mankind I cleave to Him, 
And to Him will I cleave alway. 


But what is St. Paul’s settled policy as a preacher of 
the gospel; what is the great theme of his discourse ? 
It is Jesus Christ and Him crucified. He brushes aside 
attractions of rhetoric, and makes no appeal upon 
questions in which there is mutual agreement, but de- 
liberately speaks of the cross, the gallows.of the day, 
with all its awful associations of shame and infamy and 
disgrace. 

There is to his mind one central person, Jesus Christ ; 
one great fact, His crucifixion ; one all-important truth 
arising from His death, which is a sacrifice for the sin 
of the whole world. And although St. Paul concentrated 
his teaching in a ministry marked by singleness of aim, 
“This one thing I do,’ yet it must not be supposed that 
his course had a narrowing influence upon the mind. 

E 


50 THE CHURCH YEAR 


For all life’s richest blessings centre in the person of 
Christ, and its greatest gains may be traced to His cross. 

There is first, then, the central figure, Jesus Christ. 
Our religion is not simply a philosophy, nor yet a system 
of teaching to be studied, accepted, and received, but 
alife. It brings to bear upon human thought and action 
not a body of new truth for consideration, but a person 
to be trusted and loved. This is its peculiar excellency, 
and the reason of its heart-moving power. It is the 
attracting force of love in a personal life lived on earth 
in the fierce light of duty, in the form of a servant 
stooping to the lowest and showing for all time to all men, 
in human form, the wideness of God’s mercy and the 
greatness of His love. 

There is, in the second place, the central fact which 
leads to the central truth—Christ crucified. St. Paul 
knew well the power of attraction which lies in the person 
of Christ. But one act stood out above all others as 
a revelation of His heart, and that was His death upon 
the Cross. This the Saviour Himself had pointed out 
long before when He had said: ‘ And I, if I be lifted 
up from the earth, will draw all men unto me.’ 

The cross shows the way by which God is able to recon- 
cile His justice with His mercy. A God all mercy were 
a God unjust. It is a bridge which passes from the one 
to the other. The sinner who looks in faith to Jesus 
Christ finds a way of access to the Father, and the free 
and full forgiveness of his sins. 

The cross bears upon it the message of redeeming love, 
even as the Christian poet sings : 

Inscribed upon the cross we see, 
In shining letters, ‘God is love.’ 
The outstretched arms of Jesus Christ tell the story 


GOOD FRIDAY 51 


of God’s attitude to men. He stretches out untiring 
hands of mercy and of love. It displays the whole 
redeeming powers of God brought into contact with 
‘human souls. There is nothing which speaks with’ 
such eloquent voice to the sinful, and proclaims so truly 
God’s attitude towards sin and yet His love for the 
sinner. % 

The cross proclaims our redemption. It was there 
that Christ triumphed over Satan and his power. It 
was there that sin was nailed to the tree and condemned 
in the flesh. It was there that Death was met and 
vanquished, disarmed of its awful sting, and its power 
for ever destroyed. Truly the death of Christ was our 
redemption. It is not Christ without His cross, nor the 
cross without Christ, but both together, that gives life 
to dying men. It is this that makes Him irresistibly 
attractive : 


As I shall be uplifted on a cross 

In darkness of eclipse and anguish dread, 

So shall I lift up in my pierced hands 

Not unto dark, but light—not unto death, 
But life—beyond the reach of guilt and grief, 
The whole creation. 


The cross declares the way of cleansing. The forgive- 
ness of sin is as ever through the blood. And on the 
cross the true paschal lamb suffered and bore away the 
sins of the whole world. And so in trusting faith we 
bring our guilt to Jesus Christ, who alone can wash our 

Crimson stains 


White in His blood most precious, 
Till not a spot remains. 


E2 


52 THE CHURCH YEAR 


EASTER DAY 
THE FESTIVAL OF THE RESURRECTION 


The Collect 


AtmicHty Gop, who through thine only begotten Son 
Jesus Christ hast overcome death, and opened unto us the 
gate of everlasting life; We humbly beseech thee, that, 
as by thy special grace preventing us thou dost put into 
our minds good desires, so by thy continual help we may 
bring the same to good effect; through Jesus Christ our 
Lord, who liveth and reigneth with thee and the Holy 
Ghost, ever one God, world without end. Amen. 


Triumphant Queen of Days! 


I say to all men far and near, that He is risen again ; 

That He is with us now and here, and ever shall remain. 

And what I say, let each, this morn, go tell it to his friend, 

That soon, in every place, shall dawn His kingdom without 
end.—Novatis. (G. F. P. von HARDENBERG), 


ASTER DAY is one of the greatest, if not, indeed, 
the greatest of all the Church’s festivals. It is, 
as Professor Milligan ably says, the ‘culminating point 
in the series of festivals which expressed the truly 
Christian and exquisitely beautiful idea of the Christian 
Year’. It is a weekly festival throughout the whole of 
Christendom. The institution of the Lord’s Day rests 
upon the truth it enshrines, for one festival in the long 
year is not sufficient to keep in memory the glorious 
resurrection of Jesus Christ. Every Lord’s Day is an 
Easter, but Easter is the day of days, and crowns the 
Sundays of the Christian year. 
Christmas, the festival of the Incarnation, as the 
festival of the home life, holds in the western world, 


EASTER DAY 53 


especially in England and Germany, the largest place in 
the mind. But in the East, the cradle of Christianity, 
the festival of the Resurrection has always held the first 
place. The student of theology may claim that the 
Incarnation holds in its heart all else, every good and 
perfect gift of God, and displays at once God’s mind 
towards us, and His holy will; he may believe that the 
doctrine of the Trinity is a greater mystery, but the 
ordinary Christian, as by an unerring instinct, recognizes 
that the Resurrection is the great foundation fact of 
Christianity, the truth upon which the fabric of our 
faith is reared. The thoughtful Christian sees also, at 
a glance, that the truths which cluster around Easter 
are the most helpful in consoling power, and yield the 
richest fruit in Christian life and experience. 

Easter Day, the great Festival of the Resurrection, has 
been called the Queen of Festivals. In the East it is 
called ‘ The bright day’. The very name is significant 
of visions of light, or of rising, or of life. 

We greet thee, happy day! We greet thee, day of 
hope undying, of joy which knows no shadow of a cloud, 
of faith, trustful and serene, of peace beyond the touch 
of earth’s cold hand ! 

Welcome, day that saw Christ rise! Welcome, day 
that sealed death’s doom ! Welcome, day that witnessed 
the victory over the grave ! 


Death is conquered, man is free, 
Christ has won the victory. 


Let the joy bells ring in every believing heart, for 
Christ is risen. Let faith be strengthened as we stand 
beside the empty tomb. ‘ Why seek ye the living among 
the dead?’ Let hope grow and increase at the thought 


54 THE CHURCH YEAR 


of everlasting life, as we remember the Saviour’s words : 
“ Because I live, ye shall live also.’ 

We have stood in sad and earnest thought before 
Calvary’s mount on Good Friday. There we have seen 
the awful cross, the cruel tree of torture upon which 
the Saviour hung for the world’s sin. We have watched 
the burial, in the rock-hewn tomb, and have seen it sealed 
with the seal of imperial Rome, to violate which meant 
death. Good Friday was black with clouds. Heaven 
veiled its face from the sight of the world’s sin, which. 
required such a tremendous sacrifice as the Son of God. 
The seventh day, the Sabbath of the saints of old, broke 
sunless, for hope had died and was buried in the grave 
of Jesus. 

But Easter Day breaks fair and beautiful, and its early 
dawn proclaims a Risen Lord, and shows an empty tomb. 
Earth’s darkest spot, the tomb, is irradiated with a light 
from heaven. The abode of death is untenanted. 
A heavenly visitor attends to proclaim the triumph of 
life over death : 

Christ is risen, He is risen ; 

He hath left His rocky prison, 

And the White-robed Angels glimmer, 
"Mid the cerements of His grave. 

The attitude of the disciples between Good Friday and 
Easter was one of hopeless sorrow. They were cowed 
and beaten by the great calamity, which had robbed them 
of their Master and Friend. Hope was extinguished, 
not even a spark remained. The future was dark, 
without one ray of light. 

They had failed to grasp the meaning of Christ’s 
prophecies and promises concerning His resurrection. 
The proof of this is seen in the action of the holy women. 


EASTER DAY 55 


Look at Mary Magdalene, and the other women. Their 
hearts are bowed down with sorrow. They hasten to 
the tomb with tearful eyes, and spices in their hands. 
The spices proclaim louder than words that they have 
no hope that there is life in the body of Christ. Look 
too at the disciples. The little society which Jesus had 
built up with so much care was fast falling to pieces, 
the keystone was gone, and stone by stone the building 
was ready to fall into ruin. 

But Easter Day saw the sun of hope light up the 
cheerless gloom. Easter morning brought a message 
which threw a flood of light upon all that had been dark 
before. They stood face to face with a great fact which 
nothing could gainsay, the tomb in which they had 
laid Jesus was empty. The tomb was in a rock, its 
door a great stone, sealed with the imperial seal, guarded 
by Roman soldiers, in the hands of the enemies of Christ. 
Yet it was empty. Here is God’s answer to the sneers 
and taunts of unbelief before the cross. ‘If thou be the 
Son of God, come down from the cross ... and we 
will believe thee.’ Here is God’s answer to every cavil 
of the sceptic from that day to this, it is the appeal to 
unanswerable fact—the empty tomb. Would they 
believe if He came down from the cross? Jesus did 
more. He yielded Himself to death, suffered Himself 
to be buried in the tomb, watched by enemies, kept by 
the mightiest power on earth, and from that grave He 
rose victorious, and came forth alive from the tomb. 

Christianity appeals to a living Christ, not to a dead 
Saviour. In this it stands in remarkable contrast to 
the two great religions which share with it dominion 
over the hearts and consciences of men. Buddhism 
numbers for its adherents many millions of our race. 


56 THE CHURCH YEAR 


The great article of its creed is one which leads to dark 
and terrible despair. Its goal is Nirvana, which means 
a blowing out, as the lamp is blown out, utter an- 
nihilation. Its salvation is extinction of the thinking 
principle. We sigh for life, it offers death. The second 
great religion is Mohammedanism. Medina is a sacred 
city of the Moslems, consecrated by the tomb of Mo- 
hammed. There, in the mosque of the prophet, lies all 
that is mortal of Mohammed, its great founder. The 
western fable is that Mohammed’s coffin is suspended 
by magnets and hangs between earth and heaven. 
Mohammed died in a hut and was buried where he 
died ; a mosque now covers it. But the pious Moslem 
prays towards his tomb in the mosque. He makes his 
intercessions to Mohammed, he prays to a dead man 
looking towards his tomb. How different it is with the 
Christian whose hope is in a living Christ, seated at the 
right hand of power, and who sees in the empty tomb 
the victory over death and the grave. 

The effect of the empty tomb upon the disciples was 
immediate and lasting. It turned sorrow into joy, out of 
which was born peace. The risen Christ is the source 
of the new life of the believer and the secret of power. 

The resurrection lessons are many and important. 
The resurrection furnishes a conclusive proof of the 
Divinity of Christ, greater indeed than if He had come 
down from the Cross. It is a clear proof of the saving 
efficacy of Christ’s death. It is the stamp of God’s 
approval and acceptance. It is the promise and pledge 
of the Christian’s resurrection. ‘Because I live ye shall 
live also.’ 


57 


THE TEACHING OF THE FORTY DAYS, 
FROM EASTER TO ASCENSION 


Forty days of Easter-tide 

Thou didst commune with Thine Own ; 
Now by glimpses, Lord, descried, 

Handled now and proved and known. 
Risen Master, fain would we, 

Sharing those unearthly days, 
Morn and eve, on shore and sea 

Watch Thy movements, mark Thy ways. 
Catch by faith each glad surprise 

Of Thy footsteps drawing nigh, 
Hear Thy sudden greeting rise— 

‘Peace be to you! It is I’; 
Secrets of Thy kingdom learn 

Read the vision open spread 
Feel Thy word within us burn, 

Know Thee in the broken bread. 

Jackson Mason, 


HERE were many events of surpassing interest, 

and much teaching of the highest importance 
during those forty days which elapsed between the 
Resurrection of our blessed Lord from the grave, on the 
first glad Easter Day, and His glorious Ascension to the 
right hand of power in heaven. 

The number ‘of days is itself significant. The period 
of forty days or forty years in Scripture symbology is 
of frequent occurrence, and appears always to stand for 
a time of probation, before some great event in the history 
of the kingdom of God, or for a term of chastisement 
and humiliation. For instance, there were the forty days 
of rain at the flood. Moses spent forty years of prepara- 


58 THE CHURCH YEAR 


tion in Egypt, and forty in Midian ; he was forty days 
in the mount with God, and forty years in the wilderness 
of trial and preparation. For forty days and nights, 
Elijah travelled before he came under God’s leading to 
Horeb, the mount of God. Nineveh was given a period 
of probation, a time for repentance of forty days. And 
in the earthly life of Jesus, our Divine Redeemer, we 
find frequently the same significant number. It was 
forty days after His birth that He was presented in the 
Temple, that ‘all things according to the law of the 
Lord’ might be performed. And after His baptism, 
before He entered upon His active ministry, He was. 
tempted forty days in the wilderness. There is here the 
third period of forty days, during which He abode on 
earth, and showed Himself ‘ alive after His passion by 
many infallible proofs, ... and speaking of the things per- 
taining to the kingdom of God.’ 

The gracious Epiphanies of the Forty Days are worthy 
of the most devout, coupled with the most profound, 
study. There are few indeed who realize their number, 
much less their significance. There was the first appear- 
ance to Mary Magdalene, whose eyes, brimming o’er 
with tears of penitence from the well-spring of love, were 
the first to look upon the risen Christ. There soon fol- 
lowed the second appearance to the holy women who 
had come early to the sepulchre, and were now given 
the message to the disciples to meet their risen Master 
in their native Galilee. There came next the epiphany 
to Peter, to whom the loving Saviour came, for the very 
purpose of dispelling his fears. Then there followed the 
gracious epiphany to the two disciples on the Emmaus 
road. And soon after to the Eleven, now reunited in 
the presence of a common hope, Thomas alone being 


THE FORTY DAYS, EASTER TO ASCENSION 59 


absent for some unexplained reason. Then eight days 
afterwards to the Eleven, Thomas being present, and 
demanding the most exact proofs of the resurrection 
body and life. Soon there followed the loving epiphany 
of dearest friendship to certain of the disciples on the 
shore of blue Galilee. And of supreme evidential value, 
there was the great epiphany to more than five hundred 
brethren, at once, in the mountains of Galilee, many of 
whom were living when St. Paul wrote his epistles to the 
Corinthians. Finally, He appeared to the disciples on 
the morning of His Ascension, and led them to Mount 
Olivet, where, in the presence of them all, ‘ He was taken 
up, and a cloud received Him out of their sight.’ 

The period of the Forty Days was of the greatest impor- 
tance in the history of the kingdom of God. It was 
largely educational. It brought a sublime proof of His 
undying love, ‘ having loved them, He loved them unto 
the end.’ The Apostles had failed in the hour of His 
trial, but He returns to them after His death with the 
same brotherly heart of compassion, watches over them 
with yearning pity, and in the old time spirit of tender- 
ness provides for their need. The bitterness of grief is 
past, their sorrow has turned into joy, in the presence of 
His resurrection life. They have learned the lesson of 
the cross, of the burial, and of the glad new life of resur- 
rection power. But there are deeper things still to come 
concerning the kingdom. The Ascension is before them, 
and Pentecost is still in the region of promise. 

The Forty Days were days of waiting. They were to 
wait with patience and with expectation. They were 
formative days, when the lesson of implicit obedience 
to God was being taught. He commanded them that 
they should not depart from Jerusalem, but wait. They 


60 THE CHURCH YEAR 


must wait for God’s time for action. They must wait 
for the fulfilment of the promise of the Spirit. They 
- have been given the revelation of the love of the Father, 
they have seen the redemptive work of the Son, and near 
at hand is the pouring out of the Spirit by whose mighty 
power the love of God will be brought into human hearts, 
and the work of Christ made effective in human souls. 
The doctrine of the Holy Trinity stands revealed in the 
Forty Days. 

There was the lesson during the Forty Days of the 
kingship of Christ, of His supreme authority in heaven 
and earth. They had seen Jesus of Nazareth in the 
dying throes of Good Friday, they had stood by His 
silent grave, they had looked upon the risen Christ of 
Easter, and now there comes to them the all-important 
truth that Jesus Christ has all power in heaven and 
earth. The Saviour whose name they are to proclaim 
is omnipotent, the child of Bethlehem is seen to be the 
“Mighty God ’. 

And arising from the universal kingship of Christ, 
springs the lesson of the catholicity of the Church. 
The Gospel, is, according to Christ’s own word, to be 
preached to the whole creation. His followers were 
told to ‘ go into all the world’ and they were to make 
disciples of all nations. 

The missionary lesson follows. For it was during the 
Forty Days that the great commission was given, the 

marching orders ’ of the Christian Church. The whole 
world was laid at the feet of His disciples, as the field of 
enterprise, in the great campaign for God and good. 

There was another lesson of supreme importance, if in 
any sense they were to be equipped for their work, and 
that was the unceasing presence of Christ. They needed 


THE FORTY DAYS, EASTER TO ASCENSION 61 


the inspiration of the thought, ‘ Lo, Iam with you alway,’ 
for so great, so high, so holy a mission. The spiritual 
presence of Christ with His people is the very genius of 
Christianity. It was this that led St. Paul to declare, 
“T live, yet not I, but Christ liveth in me.’ It is the 
blessed secret of all Christian life, Christ dwelling in the 
heart by faith. 

The Forty Days confirmed their faith, shaken at the 
cross, revived after the resurrection, now made strong 
in the light of His presence with them from time to time, 
and the direct teaching of the risen Christ. Jesus gently 
led them step by step in the lesson-book of faith until 
they were prepared in heart and mind for the glory of 
the Ascension. 

The Church teaching of the Forty Days is rich in 
truth concerning the risen life, first of Christ, then of the 
Christian believer. 

The first Sunday after Easter inculcates the subject 
of purity. Christ our Passover has been sacrificed for 
us, and we are to keep the feast, free from the leaven of 
malice and wickedness. The Scripture lessons bring 
forward a chain of evidence concerning the resurrection 
as furnished by St. John and St. Paul. The Old Testa- 
ment lessons (Num. xvi. and xvii. to ver. 12) furnish the 
solemn warning of the fate of Korah, Dathan, and 
Abiram, whose rejection of God’s appointed priesthood 
brought upon them such terrible punishment. 

The Second Sunday after Easter sets Christ before us 
as our example, as He has also been our sacrifice. The 
Epistle furnishes St. Peter’s beautiful picture of Christ’s 
example on earth (1 Pet. ii. 19) ; while the Gospel is the 
word of Jesus recorded by St. John of the love and 
sacrifice of the Good Shepherd (St. John x. 11). The 


62 THE CHURCH YEAR 


Old Testament lessons (Num. xx. and xxi.) are full of 
warning against the spirit of murmuring, yet showing 
God’s grace and power, as exemplified at Meribah, the 
water of strife, and in the plague of fiery serpents. 

The Third Sunday after Easter is a call to Christian 
consistency, all that is contrary to the Christian profes- 
sion being eschewed, and all such things as are agreeable 
to the same carefully followed. The Epistle (1 Pet. 11. 11) 
is St. Peter’s injunction to live the pilgrim life, while the 
Gospel (St. John xvi. 16) points forward to the Ascension. 
The lessons are full of warning and exhortation. (Num. 
XXL, XKii.,/or XXiv.) 

The Fourth Sunday after Easter points to a heart 
fixed in God, filled with the spirit of loving obedience, 
and living in the light of promise. The Epistle (St. Jas. 
i. 17) tells the secret of every good gift of God, and the 
Gospel (St. John xvi. 5) shows us the expediency of 
Christ’s departure from earth. The Old Testament les- 
sons dwell upon the duty of obedience. (Deut. iv. and v.) 

The Fifth Sunday after Easter brings out the need of 
inspiration in life, the spirit-born thought being followed 
by the spirit-assisted act. The Epistle is St. James’s 
marvellous word-picture of the ritual of pure religion, 
which is the deed of loving service. (St. Jas. i. 22.) The 
Gospel is the word of Christ concerning prayer in faith, 
and the promise of the overcoming life. (St. John xvi.23.) 
The Old Testament lessons furnish first the doctrine of 
the unity of God, and the necessity of obedience, coupled 
with warnings against the spirit of rebellion and self-will. 
(Deut. vi., 1x., or x.) 

The whole period is to be one of anticipation of the 
Ascension, and of expectation of the promised Comforter. 


~_ 


63 


ASCENSIONTIDE AND ITS LESSONS 
THE ASCENSION-DAY 


The Collect 
GRANT, we beseech thee, Almighty God, that like as we 
do believe thy only-begotten Son our Lord Jesus Christ 
to have ascended into the heavens; so we may also in 
heart and mind thither ascend, and with him continually 
dwell, who liveth and reigneth with thee and the Holy 
Ghost, one God, world without end. Amen. 


SUNDAY AFTER ASCENSION-DAY 


The Collect 

O Gop the King of glory, who hast exalted thine only 
Son Jesus Christ with great triumph unto thy kingdom in 
heaven; We beseech thee, leave us not comfortless; but 
send to us thine Holy Ghost to comfort us, and exalt us 
unto the same place whither our Saviour Christ is gone 
before, who liveth and reigneth with thee and the Holy 
Ghost, one God, world without end. Amen. 


I will arise, and in the strength of love 
Pursue the bright track ere it fade away, 
My Saviour’s pathway to His home above. 


Till resting by the incarnate Lord, 
Once bleeding, now triumphant for my sake, 
I mark Him, how by seraph hosts adored 
He to earth’s lowest cares is still awake. 
KEBLE, Christian Year. 
HE Ascension of our Lord Jesus Christ was the 
crowning act of His earthly ministry. It deserves, 
therefore, a large place in the Christian consciousness. 
Ascension Day commemorates a great fact in human 
history, as well as a commanding truth in theology. 


64 THE CHURCH YEAR 


The doctrine which arises from the fact is the most 
sublime and heart-lifting which can possibly occupy the 
mind of man. It is hardly too much to say that there is 
no truth more important, more inspiring, more helpful. 
It corrects almost all error in religious belief. If it 
had been properly understood, in all the Christian ages, 
it would, humanly speaking, have prevented all the 
divisions of Christendom. 

The teaching which clusters around the great event is 
all-important. The Lord Jesus Christ, when He departed 
from this world, took the body, in which He had 
tabernacled on earth, to the nght hand of power, thus 
uniting the divine and human, not for time alone, but 
for all eternity. It was expedient that He should thus 
go away, in order that He might send the Holy Spirit 
to abide with us for ever. Not only so, but in Heaven 
He ever liveth to make intercession for us. And in that 
holy, happy home, He is preparing a place for His people. 
Jesus not only lives, but He is at the right hand of 
power, to continue His blessed work, through His living 
Church, working on earth through the members of His 
mystical body, as they carry out the designs and desires 
of their great Head. He is our great Advocate on high, 
our unceasing Intercessor at God’s right hand, our. all- 
glorious King, who has all power in heaven and earth. 

The beautiful teaching of our Church service is never 
more appropriate nor more apparent than on the great 
festivals of the Christian Year. Ascension Day is not 
now observed—in many English-speaking countries—as 
a public holiday, and vast numbers in consequence 
seldom if ever hear the inspiring and uplifting services 
of that great day in which is brought before us this last 
and crowning fact in our Lord’s ministry on earth, and 


ASCENSIONTIDE 65 


His exaltation to Heaven where ‘Glory shines about His 
head and a bright crown without a thorn ’. 

In the proper Psalms appointed for the day there are 
many expressions, which, though they had a lower and 
more general application when first written, are applicable 
in their ideal and spiritual sense to the humiliation and 
exaltation of the Son of Man. For example, in the 
Psalms for the morning service we find expressions such 
as these !—‘ What is man, that Thou are mindful of 
him: and the son of man, that Thou visitest him ? 
Thou madest him lower than the angels to crown him 
with glory and worship.’ ‘Lord, who shall dwell in Thy 
tabernacle : or who shall rest upon Thy holy hill ? Even 
he, that leadeth an uncorrupt life: and doeth the thing 
which is right, and speaketh the truth from his heart.’ 
‘The king shall rejoice in Thy strength, O Lord.’ ‘Be 
Thou exalted, Lord, in Thine own strength.’ 

In the Psalms for the evening we have further expres- 
sions of triumph: ‘ Who shall ascend into the hill of 
the Lord : or who shall rise up in His holy place ? Even 
he that hath clean hands and a pure heart.’ ‘ Lift up 
your heads, O ye gates, and be ye lift up ye everlasting 
doors: and the King of Glory shall come in. Who is 
the King of Glory: It is the Lord, strong and mighty, 
. . . even the Lord of Hosts, he is the King of Glory.’ 
‘“O clap your hands together, all ye people: ... God is 
gone up with a merry noise and the Lord with the sound 
of the trump. . . . God sitteth upon His holy seat.’ 

In the lessons of the day from the Old Testament, 
we behold as in a vision, the Ancient of Days upon his 
throne of flaming glory, and one like the Son of Man 
coming with clouds, and brought near to the throne 
and given dominion and glory (Dan. vii. g to 15). We 

F 


66 THE CHURCH YEAR 


hear, in the evening, the record of the marvellous as- 
cension of Elijah the prophet, who went up by a 
whirlwind into heaven, prophetic of Christ’s ascension 
to God’s right hand (2 Kings ii.to ver. 16). 

In the lessons from the New Testament we listen, in 
the morning, to the word-picture of the Ascension given 
by St. Luke (xxiv. 44 to end) : Jesus ‘led them out as far 
as to Bethany, and He lifted up His hands and blessed 
them. And it came to pass, while He blessed them, He 
was parted from them, and carried up into heaven.’ 
The disciples now realized the meaning of their Master’s 
teaching, for they ‘ worshipped Him and returned to 
Jerusalem with great joy’. Their faith was greatly 
strengthened in their Risen Lord by His visible exalta- 
tion to Heaven. 

We are taught in the evening that ‘ there remaineth 
therefore a rest to the people of God’, that our great 
High Priest has passed into the heavens, that He ‘ was 
in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin’, 
therefore we should hold fast our profession and come 
boldly to the Throne of Grace since we have a great 
High Priest in Heaven who is touched with the feeling 
of our in firmities (Heb. iv.). 

In the Epistle for the day we have read to us St. Luke’s 
second and fuller historical account of the Ascension, 
taken from the Acts of the Apostles (i.1). From it we learn 
that our Lord, while blessing the disciples, also solemnly 
charged them to wait for the promise of the Father, the 
outpouring of the Holy Spirit, and to fulfil their ministry 
as His faithful witnesses. And as the disciples were 
looking, Jesus went up and a cloud received Him out of 
their sight. Then the final touch is given to the beautiful 
picture. Behold two men stood by them in white apparel, 


ASCENSIONTIDE 67 


which also said, ‘Ye men of Galilee, why stand ye gazing 
up into heaven ? This same Jesus which is taken up from 
you into heaven, shall so come in like manner as ye have 
seen him go into heaven.’ 

In the gospel for the day (St. Mark xvi. 14), we have 
Christ’s Commission to His Church, its glorious Magna 
Charta:—‘Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel 
to every creature.’ ‘So then after the Lord had spoken 
unto them, He was received up into heaven, and sat on 
the right hand of God. And they went forth and preached 
everywhere, the Lord working with them, and confirming 
the word with signs following.’ 

It is the Word of God as written in Holy Scripture 
that leads us to express our faith in the Creed with 
spiritual fervour in this crowning fact in our Lord’s 
earthly life: ‘He ascended into Heaven, He sitteth on 
the right hand of the Father, God Almighty.’ 

In the Collect we pray that we may ‘in heart and 
mind thither ascend, and with Him continually dwell’. 
In the proper preface in the Communion service, we 
recall the comforting truth that Christ ‘ after His most 
glorious Resurrection manifestly appeared to all His 
Apostles, and in their sight ascended up into Heaven 
to prepare a place for us ; that where He is, thither we 
might also ascend and reign with him in glory’. 

The hymns for the day express in noblest praise the 
same blessed truth : 

Hail the day that sees Him rise 
To His throne above the skies. 
The head that once was crowned with thorns 
Is crowned with glory now; 
A royal diadem adorns 
The Mighty Victor’s brow. 
F2 


68 THE CHURCH YEAR 


The sacred services of Ascension Day are heart-up- 
lifting and most inspiring, helping us to seek the things 
that are above, ‘where Christ is seated on the right 
hand of God.’ 

% 


WHITSUNDAY 


The Collect 

Gop, who as at this time didst teach the hearts of thy 
faithful people, by the sending to them the light of thy 
Holy Spirit ; Grant us by the same Spirit to have a right 
judgement in all things, and evermore to rejoice in his holy 
comfort ; through the merits of Christ Jesus our Saviour, 
who liveth and reigneth with thee, in the unity of the same 
Spirit, one God, world without end. Amen. 


Joy because the circling year 

Brings our day of blessings here, 

Day when first the light divine 

On the Church began to shine.—Rey. J. ELLERTON. 


Breathe on me, Breath of God, 
Till I am wholly Thine, 
Till all this earthly part of me 
Glows with Thy fire divine.—Epwin Hatcnu, D.D. 


What is arid, fresh bedew ; 
What is sordid, cleanse anew ; 
Balm on the wounded pour. 
What is rigid, gently bend ; 
On what is cold, Thy fervour send ; 
What has strayed restore. 
KinGc RoBERT THE Pious. 
The effluence of Thy Light divine, 
Pervading worlds, hath reached my bosom too ; 
Yes, in my spirit doth Thy Spirit shine, 
As shines the sunbeam in a drop of dew. 
DERZHAVIN, 


WHITSUNDAY 69 


HE lessons of Whitsuntide are amongst the most 

precious in the long round of the Christian Year. 
They all cluster around the Person, Mission, and Work 
of the Holy Spirit. 

Whitsunday is the anniversary of the birth-day of the 
Church of Christ. It was on the day of Pentecost that 
the Holy Spirit came in the fullness of His presence 
and power upon the waiting disciples of the Lord Jesus. 
Just as the Passover was the birth-day of Israel, so 
Pentecost marked the birth of a new era in the Church 
of God. It is the irrefragable proof that God Himself 
is the Author of Christianity. 

The Church of Christ is a spiritual organization ; its 
life is that of the Spirit ; its unity is due to the presence 
of the Spirit ; its power is all through the operation of 
the Spirit. 

The members of the Church of Christ are all born of 
the Spirit, live by the Spirit, and walk in the Spirit. 

The work of the Church is all carried on in humble 
reliance upon the Holy Spirit Himself, who ‘fills the 
Church of God’, and who makes use of the means of 
grace for the furtherance of His holy purposes of blessing. 

Whitsunday is by pre-eminence the Holy Spirit’s Day. 
Our hymns of praise are all possessed with the thought 
of God’s great gift. The Scripture lessons proclaim 
God’s love in thus coming to the hearts of His people, 
to be their unceasing Comforter, Guide, and Helper. The 
prayers are all instinct with the thought of our need 
of the Holy Spirit’s light and leading. The preacher’s 
message is an appeal to Christians for a larger and fuller 
realization of the importance of the work of the Holy 
Spirit in the Church at large, and in the lives of Christ’s 
believing people. 


70 THE CHURCH YEAR 


Whitsunday leads us back to the first principles of 
the Christian religion. It shows us our true position in 
the Church. It teaches us to lean only on the grace of 
Christ, and to say at every step and stage of life’s 
pilgrimage, ‘O! to grace how great a debtor, daily I’m 
constrained to be.’ For it is grace from first to last. 
The Christian owes all to Christ, andit is the Holy Spirit 


who takes the things of Christ and brings them into — 


personal relations with our lives : 
And every virtue we possess, 
And every victory won, 
And every thought of holiness, 
Are His alone. 

The Holy Spirit meets all need. This must be so, for 
He is not only Divine, but Deity. He is the Lord the 
Life-Giver. 

Christians too often associate the work of the Holy 
Spirit with one aspect alone of His mighty operations, 
that of consolation. 

There are many to whom the Holy Spirit has but one 
name: Comforter. They forget that the thought of 
Comforter has behind it that of strengthening. It is 
not that He consoles alone, in the midst of earth’s 
sorrows. This He undoubtedly does, but he brings as 
well strength to endure, and teaches His loved ones ‘ to 
suffer and be strong ’. 

The work of the Holy Spirit covers human life in all 
its bearings, in every sphere of action, whether of thought 
or will. In a brief study, we are only able to look at 
a few departments. 

(1) The Intellectual Life. It is the Holy Spirit who 
leads us into all truth. His Spirit is the source and 
secret of Wisdom and Understanding. He is therefore 


WHITSUNDAY 71 


called the Teacher. And with good reason, for He is 
the Illuminator who gives light. ‘The prayer of Ajax 
was for light,’ and light may be said to be our greatest 
need. Well is it for us then, when we throw open the 
shutters of our souls, and with the great Milton say : 
What in me is dark 
Illumine, what is low raise and support. 

We should constantly seek the guidance and help of 
the Holy Spirit. For without His presence, we shall lack 
that true insight which is so necessary in all search for 
truth. It was a saying of the Hebrews that the manna 
was sweet to every taste, that it suited every appetite, 
that it met every need in every condition of life. It is 
the same with Truth, which under the great Teacher 
becomes the food which is convenient, or which is 
adapted to every mind. 

(2) The Practical Life. We gladly acknowledge the 
necessity of the guidance of the Holy Spirit in the 
Councils of the Church, but we sometimes forget His 
leading is essential for all right action in the life of the 
individual. He-is the Spirit of Counsel and Might. 
The Holy Spirit leads the Spirit-taught man to right _ 
conclusions. The classic instance of Holy Scripture is 
Joseph. The secret of his wise action under all trying 
conditions, of his success in the face of every obstacle 
placed in his way, was simply this, he was a man in 
whom the Spirit dwelt, and who gave himself up to 
His leading. The Holy Spirit gives power to do the 
appropriate action. The counsel accepted, He furnishes 
the might by which it may be carried out into the region 
of activity, thus illuminating the mind and strengthening 
the will. 

(3) The Spiritual Life. The Holy Spirit is the Author 


72 THE CHURCH YEAR 


and Sustainer of all spiritual life. He brings the life 
of Jesus Christ into our souls. It is through His mighty 
power that we become partakers of the Divine Life. The 
Holy Spirit is Light to guide, Fire to warm, Strength to 
sustain. In a word, He is God dwelling in the heart of 
man, and supplying his every need, by His own mighty 
power. 

The life of growing sanctification owes its origin and 
its continuance to the work of the Holy Spirit in the 
believer’s heart. It is clear that God has made perfect 
provision in Christ for our deliverance from the penalty 
and power of sin. It is the work of the Holy Spirit to 
make this glorious provision effectual in our lives, and 
it is through the power of the Holy Spirit that we are 
separated from sin, unto God, in Christ Jesus. 

The earnest Churchman who has followed the teaching 
of the truth of God, as it is laid down step by step in the 
Christian Year, ought not to be open to the censure of 
a modern preacher, that many in the Christian Church 
are ‘living on the wrong side of Pentecost’. This, he 
thinks, is the cause of so much failure, amidst the intense 
activity of the Churches to-day, the reason they “ have 
toiled all night and have taken nothing’. And it is 
with great penetration that he goes on to point out, 
that ‘our clamant need is the fullness of the Spirit ’. 
God stands ready to give this rich blessing, so that 
every believing soul may have his own Pentecost, the 
presence and power of the Holy Spirit, ‘ that vital living. 
power which is to the Christian what genius is to the 
artist, and without which, whatever his technique, there 
is no soul.’ 


73 


TRINITY SUNDAY 


The Collect 

ALMIGHTY and everlasting God, who hast given unto us 
thy servants grace by the confession of a true faith to 
acknowledge the glory of the eternal Trinity, and in the 
power of the Divine Majesty to worship the Unity; We 
beseech thee, that thou wouldest keep us stedfast in this 
faith, and evermore defend us from all adversities, who 
livest and reignest, one God, world without end. Amen. 


Three Persons praise we evermore, 
One only God our hearts adore.—Latin Hymn. 


I in one God believe, 
One sole eternal Godhead, of whose love 
All heaven is mov’d, Himself unmoved the while. 
In three eternal Persons I believe, 
Essence threefold and one, mysterious league 
Of union absolute.—DANTE. 


HE truth of the Holy Trinity is everywhere 

revealed in the Bible to spiritual eyes. It runs 
through every part, and is woven into the whole of Scrip- 
ture, whether it be history, prophecy, spiritual teaching, 
or biography. 

It is found, for instance, in the Old Testament in the 
account of Creation, ‘ Let us make man;’ in Abraham’s 
three heavenly visitors; in the Threefold Blessing ; in 
Isaiah’s vision of the Thrice-Holy One. 

The revelation is more clearly made in the New Tes- 
tament. It was a true instinct on the part of the early 
fathers when they declared truth and met objection 
at the same time, by their words, ‘ Repair to the Jordan, 
and thou shalt see the Trinity.’ 


74 THE CHURCH YEAR 


The objection which is sometimes made to what is 
termed a metaphysical conception of God fades away 
when we remember that the fruitfulness of our spiritual 
life largely depends on the richness of our view of God. 
For if there be choice or preference in the matter, surely 
one would prefer a clear view of God to an obscure one, 
a definite view to a confused one, in a word a true con- 
ception to a false one, or to one half emptied of its content. 
And Burke long ago met the objection on other lines, 
when he said the doctrine of the ‘ Trinity softens and 
humanizes the whole idea of divinity ’. 

The truth of the Holy Trinity is one of the most 
practical of all truths. A surface study of the subject 
may not make this clear. But the moment we go 
deeper, we find that such is indeed the case. The 
mysterious element seems to predominate over all 
else, at first glance. Yet in reality it is not as 
mysterious as some of the most commonplace things 
in life. The reason is plain, for it is not a mystery 
in the old sense, only made known to the initiated, 
but fully revealed by God. Whereas, there are a 
thousand things which we do not in the least under- 
stand, but which we accept mainly on account of our 
familiarity with them. If we were called to task con- 
cerning our belief, we could not give an explanation 
which would satisfy reason. And yet we act constantly 
in practical life upon our beliefs. : 

Let me name just a few instances, which will serve 
to illustrate many departments of life. There is the 
seed life in the grain, which no one has been able to 
explain. And yet we sow our fields, and patiently wait 
for the golden harvest. And who can furnish a popular, 
much less a scientific, explanation of the electric fluid. 


TRINITY SUNDAY 75 


We know it only by results, but that does not pre- 
vent us from using it, and to such an extent that we 
proudly claim to live in the electric age. There is a 
marvellous connexion between brain matter and human 
action, but who is there in all the realms of science, 
who can give us the account of the cause and effect, 
which is everywhere in evidence. 

The distinction between the doctrinal and practical 
is not always as clear as it should be. The objection to 
dogma is very widespread. But one might as well 
object to the scaffolding in the building of a house, or 
to the walls themselves. The doctrine is simply the 
truth which is taught ; the dogma is merely its scientific 
statement, and the practice the appropriate action 
which it leads to. 

In all ages of the Church’s history attempts have been 
made from the material to illustrate the spiritual, from 
the world of sight to make clear the sphere of faith. 
This has been especially true of the Holy Trinity. 
St. Patrick, when he preached the gospel to the Irish, 
took the dear little shamrock of their fields to illustrate 
the three in one, and the one in three. But of course 
all analogies fail, and at best only partly illustrate that 
for which they stand. Still, there are many remarkable 
illustrations in nature. Physical science recognizes that 
in nature, there is the invisible substance of ether, and 
that there is matter, and that energy is found in exercise. 
We understand that material substances have colour, 
shape, and size. And we know that in colour there is 
the red, which is called the heat-ray, yellow, which is 
called the light ray, and blue, which is known as the 
chemical ray. The forces of nature, again, are known 
to be attraction, repulsion, and equilibrium. In elec- 


76 THE CHURCH YEAR 


tricity, there is the positive principle, the negative, and 
the electric spark. There issues from the sun light and 
warmth, and yet they are indivisible. There is in space, 
length, breadth, and height; in time, past, present, 
and future; in language, subject, predicate, and object. 
But man himself is a trinity in unity, with his body, 
soul, and spirit ; and his feeling, thought, and will. 

The truths of the Day all centre around God, His 
nature, His name, His work, His will. The truth of the 
Holy Trinity is one which satisfies the mind, and 
enriches the heart. 

There is the Father, with all its wealth of meaning in 
fatherhood, the Creator, of whom we devoutly say in 
our Catechism, ‘ Who made me, and all the world.’ 

There is the Son, with its rich content of sonship, who 
loved us, and gave Himself for us, our glorious Redeemer. 

There is the Holy Spirit, in all the deep spiritual 
significance of the Name, the great Sanctifier of the 
faithful. 

The doctrine of the Holy Trinity is not a theory for 
the mind. It is an experience for the heart, a revelation of 
God Himself to the personal life, as a Father above us, 
and yet a Christ with us, and a Holy Spirit within us: 

We from Thy oneness come, 
Beyond it cannot roam, 
And in Thy oneness find our one eternal home. 

There is thus, furnished to the believer, a threefold 
security of his salvation, which is ascribed in God’s Word 
to each person in the Godhead. ‘A threefold cord is 
not quickly broken.’ And God has bound His children 
to Himself by ties of Love, and Blood, and Life, by 
which they are kept inviolate through all eternity. 

We know now in part; the fullness of the divine life 


TRINITY SUNDAY 7 


is yet to come, in the heavenly home when the beatific 
vision shall be ours, and we shall enjoy what the devout 
spirit of Melancthon looked forward to, when he said, 
* There we shall see the Holy Trinity.’ 


He 


THE SUNDAYS AFTER TRINITY 


HE first half of the Christian Year is devoted to 

the great outstanding facts of our holy religion. 
In it we commemorate the chief historic events of the 
Life of Christ, His saving work as Redeemer, the founding 
of the Christian Church, the outpouring of the Holy 
Spirit, and the cardinal truth of the Holy Trinity. 
The historical setting of Christianity is clearly portrayed, 
and the proper emphasis placed upon the truths springing 
from the events which are duly celebrated. What could 
be more appropriate than that the historical and doc- 
trinal period of the Church’s teaching throughout the 
Christian Year should close by lifting the heart and 
mind to God in humble adoration of His Divine Majesty, 
revealed to us as Trinity in Unity ? The highest truth 
must ever yield the richest fruit. And in the doctrine 
of the Holy Trinity we have at once truth which satisfies 
the mind, warms the heart, moves the will, and sanctifies 
the life. Thus, in one day, we sum up the revelation 
of God, and find in the Confession of the Trinity in 
Unity, that which marks out Christianity as the religion 
which alone meets man’s supreme need, and which 
makes the Gospel the glad news of God. In the full 
view of divine truth which it presents, it meets at once 
the danger of a dry Deism, and of a dreary Pantheism. 
The chief Saints’ Days are kept in the first half of the 


78 THE CHURCH YEAR 


Church Year. It is interesting to note that, whether 
by design or by mere coincidence, the days of the 
natural year increase in length from the Nativity of 
our Lord, the glad Christmas festival, while they decrease 
from that of his great Forerunner, John the Baptist, 
June 24th, in keeping with the Baptist’s own prophetic 
utterance, ‘ He must increase, but I must decrease.’ 

The Greek Church does not observe Trinity Sunday 
as such, and misses the influence which must flow from 
a faithful presentation of the truth enshrined in the 
celebration of the day, in Scripture lesson, in petition 
offered in prayer, in glad hymn of adoring praise, in as- 
cription, in worship, in Holy Communion, and in the 
teaching of the preached word. Instead of Trinity 
Sunday, the ‘ Feast of all the Martyrs’ is kept. 

In the Roman communion, Trinity is the Octave of 
Pentecost, and the Sundays which follow are known as 
the Sundays after Pentecost. 

It would appear that Trinity Sunday, as now observed, 
was of northern and western origin, and found designa- 
tion and first celebration in the English and German 
Churches. The special features of the services on 
Trinity Sunday are, however, much more ancient than 
the keeping of the day itself. The Proper Preface in 
the Communion office is found in one of the earliest 
service books, known as the Gelasian Sacramentary ; 
while the Collect is from the Sacramentary of Gregory, 
and the Epistle (Rev. iv. 1) and Gospel (St. John iii, 1) 
are those prescribed for the same day in a Lectionary in 
use as early as the seventh century. 

The Sundays after Trinity, with certain Saints’ days, 
form the second half of the Church Year. Their teaching | 
is mainly practical, the carrying out into daily life of 


THE SUNDAYS AFTER TRINITY 79 


the truth which has been learned from the facts and 
doctrines of Christianity. The rich privileges of the 
Gospel, in all its wealth of meaning, have been brought 
before the mind, and pressed upon the attention of 
Christian people. The Christian doctrine has been 
taught, and now the Christian life remains to be lived. 
Nothing proves more conclusively the wisdom of the 
system of the Christian Year, or its faithfulness to 
Scripture, than this joining together of precept with 
practice, and the wedding together of the saving facts 
and truths of the Gospel with the experiences of the 
daily common life. It is patent to every mind that the 
Gospel message of the Incarnation, and of the Atone- 
ment, the glad news of the Resurrection Life, and the 
Ascension and Session of Christ at God’s right hand, and 
the Coming of the Paraclete are most fruitful facts, 
affecting profoundly the life of men, and the secret and 
source of all right living. Bishop Moule of Durham has 
well pointed out that the Evangelical commentator, 
Thomas Scott, while at Olney, devoted his week-night 
addresses to instructions in daily Christian living; and 
that the remarkable revival in our day of the desire to 
apply saving truth to common life, is ‘a sign of divine 
mercy in the Church’, and is ‘ profoundly Scriptural ’. 

The point of importance in every Christian system is, 
that Christ should be known by an act of appropriating 
faith, as a personal Saviour: Christ for us our atone- 
ment ; that the power of the new life of the Spirit should 
be realized : Christ in us the hope of glory; and that 
there should be definite growth and progress in sanctifi- 
cation, the fruit of the indwelling Spirit, in a life of con- 
scious surrender to God, and of devotion to His holy will. 

And it is just here that the chief value of the teaching 


80 THE CHURCH YEAR 


of the Christian Year consists, that it attempts to bring 
in due order the events in God’s revelation of Himself 
and of His will, in their successive stages, before the mind 
for devout study, and to place as well, in harmonious 
system, the leading doctrines of the faith. Trinity is 
followed by some twenty-five Sundays in which there are 
presented all the doctrines and the helpful teaching 
which in a full and rich theology flow from the revelation 
of the Trinity. 

It is only on some such well-rounded plan that we can 
hope to see developed a Christian life entirely consistent 
in every part, full-orbed, and complete, free from one- 
sidedness, peculiarities, and vagaries. 


FIRST SUNDAY AFTER TRINITY 


The Collect 
O Gop, the strength of all them that put their trust in 
thee, mercifully accept our prayers; and because through 
the weakness of our mortal nature we can do no good thing 
without thee, grant us the help of thy grace, that in keeping 
of thy commandments we may please thee, both in will and 
deed ; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen. 


Plenteous grace with Thee is found, 
Grace to cover all my sin; 
Let the healing streams abound, 
Make and keep me pure within. 
CHARLES WESLEY. 


Grace taught my soul to pray, 
And made my eyes o’erflow ; 

*Twas grace which kept me to this day, 
And will not let me go.—TopLapy. 


FIRST SUNDAY AFTER TRINITY 81 


HE spiritual teaching brought before Christian 

people on the First Sunday after Trinity is of the 
highest importance in Christian progress in the life of 
faith. 

The leading idea of the Sunday is expressed in the 
Collect for the Day, which is a confession of human 
weakness, and a prayer for God’s Grace, without which 
we cannot walk in the path of Obedience. 

The Collect itself, like all the prayers of the Liturgy, 
is almost in the very language of Scripture. ‘The flesh 
is weak,’ said the Lord Jesus, and ‘without Me ye 
can do nothing’. We accept the Invitation which lies 
behind the exhortation of God’s Word, ‘ Let us there- 
fore come boldly unto the throne of grace, that we may 
obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time of need.’ 
And we acknowledge that it is ‘God which worketh’ 
in us ‘ both to will and to do of His good pleasure.’ 

The Christian lives in the rich light of privilege, the 
dispensation of the Spirit, the fullness of Grace and 
Truth. Grace and Truth became personal, as Lange 
points out, in Christ. Truth is light to lead, and grace 
is strength to live. 

Grace is the characteristic feature of Christianity, 
“by grace are ye saved, through faith, and that not of 
yourselves, it is the gift of God.’ 

What a thought is ‘Grace’! What a word is grace! 
What a marvel is grace! What a power is grace! Is 
there anything higher ? loftier ? nobler? Professor 
Drummond wrote that ‘ Love is the greatest thing in 
the world’. But behind the truest love we know, the 
Love of God, stands Grace. Grace is one of the great 
words of Holy Scripture, and in its original significance 
means favour, pity, or in larger meaning, undeserved 


82 THE CHURCH YEAR 


goodness on the part of the greater to the less ; spiritual- 
ized, it is the saving love of God to sinners deserving 
wrath instead of mercy. Grace, then, is the favour or 
the gift of God to the undeserving. 

The wonderful Salvation which God has given us in 
Jesus Christ is all Grace. Grace first in the heart of the 
Great Giver, the Gift Grace, the Token Grace, the 
Promise Grace, the Work Grace, the Life sustained by 
Grace, Grace by which the sins are forgiven, Grace by 
which the heart is renewed, Grace by which the affections 
are purified, Grace by which the life is sanctified. 

In the Collect the word Grace is employed in that 
special sense which we use when we speak of the work 
of God in our hearts, where He dwells, destroying the 
power of sin, and promoting likeness to Christ. This is 
the peculiar office of the Holy Spirit, the Sanctifier of the 
faithful, the great Illuminator, the Divine Comforter. 

Grace stands ready to help at every step and stage of 
the Christian pilgrimage. There is the Grace of prepara- 
tion, which popular theology describes as Conviction. 
But it is much more, for it covers all that moves and draws 
the heart of man from self to Christ, for we know : 

That even in savage bosoms 
There are longings, yearnings, strivings, 
For the good they comprehend not— 
those conscious and unconscious impressions, which we 
only know as heart hunger and soul thirst : 
A thirst no earthly stream can satisfy, 
A hunger that must feed on Christ, or die. 


There is enlightening Grace, what Martensen calls 


‘the visitation of the Spirit with the mighty call of 
grace’. 


FIRST SUNDAY AFTER TRINITY 83 


Above all, there is sanctifying Grace, by which the 
believer is purified from sin, and his life renewed after 
the image of God. This process is definitely known as 
growth in grace, and in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus 
Christ. 

The Epistle for the Day is St. John’s urgent call to 
Christians to love one another (1 John iv. 7). 

The Gospel is the solemn warning of our Lord Jesus 
Christ in the story of the Rich Man and Lazarus, of the 
danger of procrastination in spiritual things, of the 
awful tragedy which ensues, when we do not live up to 
the light that God gives in Scripture, and the fearful 
consequences of unbelief (Luke xvi. 19). 

The Old Testament Lessons are taken from the Book 
of Joshua (Joshua ili. 7-iv. 15 ; v. 13-vi. 21; or xxiv.). 
The leading idea is the promise of God to be with His 
people, combined with the thought of His mighty power. 
The Lord Himself is our Keeper, and if God be for us, 
who can be against us. 

he 


SECOND SUNDAY AFTER TRINITY 


The Collect 
O Lorp, who never failest to help and govern them 
whom thou dost bring up in thy stedfast fear and love ; 
Keep us, we beseech thee, under the protection of thy 
good providence, and make us to have a perpetual fear 
and love of thy holy Name; through Jesus Christ our 
Lord. Amen. 


In the centre of the circle of the love of God I stand, 
There can be no ‘second causes’, all must come from His 
dear hand. 
All is well: for is it not my Father who my life hath 
planned ? J. H. SHarp, 
G2 


84 THE CHURCH YEAR 


HE central teaching of the Collect for the Second 

Sunday after Trinity is that of God’s good Provi- 
dence. The prayer, which as its name denotes, collects 
in few words many desires, breathes the spirit of deepest 
faith in the all-ruling and all-powerful Providence of 
God. It is touched throughout with the apostolic 
thought, ‘ being confident of this very thing, that He 
which hath begun a good work in you will perform it 
until the day of Jesus Christ.’ It does not hesitate to 
invite all who use it to lean upon the heavenly promise, 
‘He hath said, I will never leave thee nor forsake thee.’ 

The Collect makes the very Word of God its plea: 
“The Lord shall preserve thee from all evil,’ and rests 
the believer’s cause upon the Divine undertaking : 
“He shall defend thee under His wings.’ And, in view of 
the Divine provision, there is sought as well a proper 
spirit of reverential awe on the part of the trusting soul, 
that fear which is true wisdom, that love which burns 
brightly for God, a reverence which ever remembers 
what God is, and who we are. 

The Epistle (I John iii. 13) describes the power of 
Love, by which the Christian is assured of his rich spiritual 
privileges. The place of Faith is also shown, in closest 
association with Love. Faith is first: ‘This is His 
commandment, That we should believe on the Name of 
His Son Jesus Christ, and love one another.’ 

The Gospel, from St. Luke xiv. 16, is the Evangelical 
invitation to the Marriage Feast, a picture of the univer- 
sality of Christianity, the wondrous grace of God, the 
holy compulsion of His love, and the adequateness of 
His preparation for all human need. 

The Old Testament Lessons (Judges iv. and v., or vi. 
11) describe the deliverance of God’s people in the time 


SECOND SUNDAY AFTER TRINITY 85 


of the Judges. He is able to save by many, or by few. 
He is our Fortress and Defence. In the words of the 
old Hussite battle song : 

Why should you faint or fear? He shall preserve you still ; 
Life, love—all that ’s dear, yield to His holy will ; 

And He shall steel your hearts, and strengthen against ill. 


The doctrine of the Providence of God is a very 
important one, and of special interest in our time. It 
‘needs to be brought more frequently before Christian 
people. There are views, which are held consciously or 
unconsciously by many, which are contrary to the 
teaching of Scripture, in regard to God’s government of 
the world. And the spirit of materialistic philosophy 
runs directly contrary to the truth of Providence, that 
God orders and overrules aJl things according to His 
holy will. It is a truth clearly revealed in the Old 
Testament, and everywhere emphasized in the New: 


Not a sparrow falleth but your God doth know. 


Providence is a doctrine which finds its basis in the 
character of God as Creator-Father, and in the nature 
of man as a dependent being. It is impossible to con- 
ceive a God, absolutely perfect in His nature, having all 
power, who would create a world and care nothing about 
it afterwards. Even the heathen, apart from revela- 
tion, have felt this, and have boldly defended, as in the 
case of Cicero, belief in a Providence. 

In Christian theology, it has long been recognized that, 
while God’s care is over all His works, there are different 
degrees in its exercise. There is a general Providence 
which covers the whole field of creation; a particular 
Providence which is concerned with man, and a special 
Providence which embraces the children of the Kingdom. 


86 THE CHURCH YEAR 


We cannot see the end from the beginning now, but 
the time is coming when God’s ways will be justified, 
and His providential working will appear as beautiful 
as it is perfect and complete. 

There are, said the saintly Rutherford, a thousand keys 
in the hand of Providence to open a thousand doors. And 
certain it is that there are many thousands of instances 
of the overruling of conditions, and circumstances, and 
events by God. Wellington was no enthusiast, yet he 
wrote a brief note after Waterloo, which ended thus :— 
“TI have escaped unhurt; the finger of Providence was 
on me.’ And there are few things more remarkable in 
history than the experience of Louis Caldy, a native of 
Montpellier, in France, during the earthquake at Port 
Royal, Jamaica, in 1692. His epitaph reads, that ‘ he 
was swallowed up by the earthquake . . . but, by the 
great providence of God, was, by a second shock, flung 
into the sea, where he continued swimming till rescued 
by a boat, and lived forty years afterwards.’ It was 
a sense of the constant love and care of God over him, 
that led Richard Boyle, the great Earl of Cork, who had 
risen with God’s blessing from small beginnings, to take 
as his motto, ‘ God’s Providence is my inheritance.’ 


THIRD SUNDAY AFTER TRINITY 


The Collect 


O Lorp, we beseech thee mercifully to hear us; and - 
grant that we, to whom thou hast given an hearty desire 
to pray, may by thy mighty aid be defended and comforted 
in all dangers and adversities; through Jesus Christ our 
Lord. Amen. 


THIRD SUNDAY AFTER TRINITY 87 


A breath that fleets beyond this iron world, 
And touches Him that made it.—TENNyYSON. 


Speak to Him thou, for He hears, and spirit with Spirit can 


meet ; 
Closer is He than breathing, and nearer than hands and 
feet. TENNYSON. 


I know not by what methods rare, 
But this I know, God answers prayer. 
E. M. Hickox. 


RAYER is of God. God is an answerer of prayer. 

These two great principles stand out to-day in the 
teaching of the Church. And every Christian acknow- 
ledges their importance in the Christian life. The 
teaching of Scripture has been verified, again and again, 
in Christian experience. 

It is God who, through His Spirit, gives the desire to 
pray. As the great Augustine truly said: ‘Thou hast made 
us for Thyself, and our hearts are restless till they rest in 
Thee.’ The desire to know God is born of God, and with- 
out His divine aid, we can have no knowledge of Him, for 
He is the source and secret and sum of all knowledge. 

It is God’s own voice within us, when. we offer true 
prayer. ‘The Spirit itself maketh intercession for us.’ 
It is in our behalf that the prayer is made. The Spirit 
of God influences, as it were, our thought, lays His loving 
hand upon the harp-strings of our life, and breathes 
forth His own longings of holiness in our petitions. As 
Bishop Handley Moule clearly and succinctly puts it : 
‘ The Holy Ghost, immanent in him, prays through him.’ 

All true prayer moves in the region of the divine. It 
is suffused with the Spirit of God. It begins and ends 
in God. Martensen has shown us its philosophy: ‘In 
the same degree in which prayer is truly made in His 


88 THE CHURCH YEAR 


Name is it also heard; for in the same degree it is He 
Himself who prays through us.’ Indeed, long centuries 
before, Augustine with true spiritual instinct declared, 
‘Christ prays for us as a priest, prays in us as our 
Head, is prayed to by us as our God. Let us recognize, 
therefore, our voices in Him, and His voices in us.’ 

The Epistle (x Pet. v. 5) is the apostle’s exhortation 
to humility of life, his warning of perils along the path 
of our pilgrimage, and his assurance of victory through 
Christ. 

The Gospel (Luke xv. I) contains the great parable 
of the Lost Sheep, and the Lost Coin, with its revelation 
of heaven’s joy ‘ over one sinner that repenteth ’. 

The Old Testament Lessons (1 Sam. ii. I-27; 1 Sam. iil. ; 
or iv. I-19) tell the story of Samuel’s early spiritual ex- 
periences, voice Hannah’s thankfulness, show forth the 
wrath of God against the sin of Eli’s sons, recount the 
war between Israel and the Philistines with the loss of 
the ark of God, and record the death of Eli. - 


he 


FOURTH SUNDAY AFTER TRINITY 


The Collect 
O Gop, the protector of all that trust in thee, without 
whom nothing is strong, nothing is holy; Increase and 
multiply upon us thy mercy ; that, thou being our ruler and 
guide, we may so pass through things temporal, that we 
finally lose not the things eternal: Grant this, O heavenly 
Father, for Jesus Christ’s sake our Lord. Amen. 


Thou wert always our Father! Each sun that arose 
Has done nothing through life but fresh mercies disclose. 
FABER. 


FOURTH SUNDAY AFTER TRINITY 89 


Mercy ! carried infinite degrees 
Beyond the tenderness of human hearts. 
WORDSWORTH. 


HE loving mercy of God, ‘our Ruler and Guide,’ 
throughout the whole pilgrimage of our life, is the 
leading idea of the services of to-day. 

The acknowledgement is most thankfully made, that 
God is the Protector of the faithful, ‘of all that trust 
in’ Him. The great truth is freely confessed that God 
is the sole strength of His people, the only source and 
secret of holiness. 

There is a very beautiful name for God in the Book 
of Jonah the Prophet. Jehovah is called there by the 
sweet and blessed name of Mercy (ii. 8). He is the 
Fountain and Well-spring of Love. He is called by the 
Psalmist (lix. 17) ‘ the God of my Mercy’, which taken 
still more literally means, my loving-kindness God. 
And David (Ps. cxliv.) calls God, ‘my Goodness,’ or 
literally, ‘my Mercy,’ who constantly displays this 
gracious spirit to me. 

Mercy is the great prerogative of God. Milton loved 
to dwell on the thought that ‘ Mercy first and last shall 
brightest shine’. God is ‘rich in mercy’; His mercies 
fail not, they are new every morning ; ‘He keeps mercy 
for thousands.’ It isimmeasurable: ‘Thy mercy is above 
the heavens ;’ it is infinite : ‘His mercy endureth for ever ;’ 
it is all-embracing, for He is the All-Merciful. It was 
through the tender mercies of God that the Dayspring 
from on high came to visit us. And the blessed Saviour 
is described as ‘a merciful and faithful High Priest’. 

The mercy of God follows us all our lives long. It is 
of His mercy that He gives us life, and health, and 


go THE CHURCH YEAR 


strength. Mercy is the atmosphere in which we live, 
the gracious light, the refreshing dew. 

The Mercy of God invites us to approach His throne 
of grace, first, to obtain forgiveness, and then to seek 
help for every time of need: This is the divine order, 
first mercy and then grace. In these two blessings we 
possess all the riches of the divine favour. 

As John Bunyan quaintly said, all the flowers in 
God’s garden are double ; we may speak of God’s mercy 
as if it were the sum total of His heart of love, but we 
cannot forget in our Christian experience the ever 
flowing stream of mercies coming forth as from a foun- 
tain, ‘ free and full as a river,’ making glad and refresh- 
ing life at every point which it touches. 

The Epistle (Rom. viii. 18) is St. Paul’s inspired 
utterance concerning the coming glory of Christ’s people, 
in the glorious prospect of which the sufferings of the 
present are not worthy of mention. 

The Gospel (Luke vi. 36) is the Saviour’s teaching con- 
cerning mercy, beautifully paraphrased by Shakespeare : 

We do pray for mercy ; 

And that same prayer doth teach us all to render 

The deeds of mercy. 

The Gospel contains as well a warning against false 
teachers in religion, and a call to consistency of life, 
before we venture to reprove others ourselves. 

The Old Testament Lessons (i Sam. Xil., xiii. ; or 
Ruth i.) furnish a picture of the early history of Israel, 
the story of the granting of a king, and of the early 
years of his reign, while the alternative lesson from the 
book of Ruth is a marvellous word painting of primitive 
Jewish life, and of the fidelity and devotion of one of 
the most beautiful of Old Testament characters. 


gl 


FIFTH SUNDAY AFTER TRINITY 


The Collect 
Grant, O Lord, we beseech thee, that the course of this 
world may be so peaceably ordered by thy governance, 
that thy Church may joyfully serve thee in all godly quiet- 
ness; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen. 


And give us peace; peace in the church and school, 
Peace to the powers who o’er our country rule, 
Peace to the conscience, peace within the heart, 
Do Thou impart. LOWENSTERN. 


HE service of the Church for God and humanity, in 
a world in which peace reigns, through the ordering 
of God’s good Providence, is the subject of prayer to-day. 

This would seem to be the ideal condition for Christian 
work, Peace within and without, the world free from 
disquiet, the Church united in joyful service for the King. 

It was so at the first coming of the Christ. Milton 
has in splendid verse described the peaceful condition 
of the world when the Christ-child was born, ‘on the 
morning of Christ’s Nativity :’ 

No war, or battle’s sound, 

Was heard the world around;.... 
But peaceful was the night 

Wherein the Prince of Light 

His reign of peace upon the earth began. 

The world has seldom been at peace since. There 
have not only been wars and rumours of wars, but 
campaigns which have lasted almost through a century 
of time. The waste of life and material possessions has 
been incalculable. It was stated by Sir Edward Fry 
at The Hague Peace Conference of 1907 that the military 
expenditure of the world is now £320,000,000 sterling 


Q2 THE CHURCH YEAK 


a year. The amount of money spent in armaments, 
in the preparation for war, not to speak of actual war, 
itself, would have carried the Gospel of Christ by living 
messengers many times over to every quarter of the globe. 

It was a thought of Longfellow : 

Were half the power that fills the world with terror, 
Were half the wealth bestowed on camps and courts, 
Given to redeem the human mind from error 

There were no need of arsenals or forts. 

But we will do well to ask: Has the Church lived up 
to its privileges, and stood ready to seize the passing 
opportunities in the great world-field of action? The 
strife of men, the wars of nations, may be used by the 
Church for the furtherance of the Gospel. And certain 
it is, that war, however to be deprecated, has been 
a means, by the overruling hand of God, by which 
whole countries have been opened up to the ambassadors 
of Christ and the soldiers of the Cross. 

Then there is this to be considered as well: What 
seems to our judgément to be an ideal condition for the 
work of God, may not be so to the All-Seeing eye. Peace 
would appear to be most desirable in the interests of the 
Gospel of Christ. And yet the Lord Jesus Himself 
declared, ‘ Think not that I am come to send peace on 
earth: I came not to send peace, but a sword.’ There 
can be no peace between right and wrong, between 
truth and falsehood, between harmony and discord. And 
until the hearts of men are brought into right relations 
with God, the Gospel of Christ must ever cause division, 
and until right triumphs there must ever be war with 
wrong, the universal reign of peace lies before us, for it 
we must pray and labour. 

We do well to pray and work for the unity and peace 


FIFTH SUNDAY AFTER TRINITY 93 


of the Church, for we may well believe that the union 
of the Christian forces would tend to greater efficiency, 
and lead, under God, to much larger results, Then it 
might be possible to realize the bright dream of the 
evangelization of the world in a single generation of 
mankind. 

The Epistle, from 1 St. Peter iii. 8, is an appeal for 
Christ-like character and conduct, and a beautiful eulogy 
of the blessings of peace. 

The Gospel (St. Luke v. 1) is the story of the miraculous 
draught of fishes, ‘from the most sacred sheet of water 
which the earth contains,’ which furnished an appro- 
priate setting to the Lord Jesus, as the fishermen looked 
upon the shining fish bursting from the broken net, for 
His prophetic utterance to Peter, ‘Fear not, from 
henceforth thou shalt catch men.’ 

The Old Testament Lessons (I Sam. xv. to 24, xvi., 
or xvii.) tell the story of Saul’s disobedience when he 
was sent to destroy Amalek; the anointing of David 
to be king, and the challenge of Goliath, the giant of 
Gath, its acceptance by David, who, ascribing all the 
power to God, by a stone from the brook and a simple 
sling laid the giant low in death. 


He 


SIXTH SUNDAY AFTER TRINITY 


The Collect 
O Gop, who hast prepared for them that love thee such 
good things as pass man’s understanding; Pour into our 
hearts such love toward thee, that we, loving thee above 
all things, may obtain thy promises, which exceed all that 
we can desire ; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen. 


94 THE CHURCH YEAR 


I say to thee, do thou repeat 

To the first man thou mayest meet, 

In lane, highway, or open street, 

That he, and we, and all things move, 

Under a canopy of Love, 

As broad as the blue dome above.—Asp. TRENCH. 


OVE and its gracious fruitage in this world, and 

that which is to come, is the heart of the services 
to-day. God’s love tomanis acknowledged. For God’s 
love is the source and secret of all good. ‘ Every good 
and every perfect gift is from above, and cometh down 
from the Father of lights.’ And then the fullness of 
God’s love is sought in prayer, that our hearts may love 
the loving Father ‘ above all things ’. 

The Love of God to mankind has ever been in evidence, 
and has been shown a thousand ways. But its perfect 
revelation and complete expression is in Jesus Christ. 
He is the ‘ Word’, the utterance of the Divine Mind, 
the embodiment of the Father’s Heart, the declaration 
of God’s Will, yea, the incarnation of the Deity, “God 
manifest in the flesh.’ 

God desires our Love. This-is a truth too often for- 
gotten. The loving longing of the great heart of God 
for our affection in true love yielded to Him, is a fore- 
most truth of revelation. It found expression in the 
Old Covenant in an eternal principle which had all the 
sanctities of the divine law :—‘ Thou shalt love the 
Lord thy God,’ the exercise of which the New Covenant 
declared is ‘ the fulfilling of the law’. 

God claims our highest Love. The Collect for to-day 
recognizes the validity of this claim, and voices the 
heart’s petition, that it may be fulfilled in ‘ loving Thee 


SIXTH SUNDAY AFTER TRINITY 95 


above all things’. The measure of our love to God is 
marked by His own requirement, ‘ Thou shalt, love the 
Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, 
and with all thy strength, and with all thy mind.’ As 
St. Bernard truly says, ‘The measure of our love to 
God is to love Him without measure ; for the immense 
goodness of God deserves all the love that we can possibly 
give to Him.’ 

The character of this Love is described, and its degree 
marked. It is affectionate, cordial, fervent, grateful, 
pure, reverent, and strong. It is to be exercised with 
‘all’ the powers of our being. The ‘heart’, the seat 
of the affections, is to find in God its complete satisfac- 
tion. The ‘soul’, the life itself, with its immortal 
longings, is to go out towards God, who alone can 
satisfy its eternal needs. The ‘ mind’, the centre of the 
intellectual powers, is to rest in the infinite Mind, in the 
absolute Truth. The ‘strength’ of man is to find 
exercise in this supreme act of love, all the faculties of 
our nature, in all their might, are to go out to God in 
purest devotion of heart and life. Scheffler long ago 
expressed it in praise, which had in it the spirit of 
prayer : 

That all my powers, with all their might, 
In Thy sole glory may unite. 

The Love which we are to show towards God is born 
of His Spirit, ‘ The fruit of the Spirit is Love.’ It arises 
within our hearts as a result of our union with Christ 
by faith. It is a product of the divine nature. It is 
the love of Christ shed abroad in our hearts. ‘ We love 
because He first loved us.’ If we are to love God truly, 
and, springing from that divine love, our fellow-men as 
well, it can only be as our hearts are yielded to Jesus 


96 THE CHURCH YEAR 


Christ, whose ‘nature and whose name is Love,’ in trust- 
ful faith, our love issuing from Him as from an inex- 
haustible fountain. 

The Epistle (Rom. vi. 3) is St. Paul’s description of 
the vital union which there is between Christ and His 
believing people. They are buried with Him in Baptism, 
and raised up with Him in His resurrection life, in the 
newness of which they are to live and walk. 

The Gospel (Matt. v. 20) is from our blessed Lord’s 
Sermon on the Mount, in which He vindicates the 
spirituality of the Law, and shows its abiding sanctions. 
He brings out its heartsearching character, and gives 
to the Church in every age illustrative examples upon 
which the conduct of Christians is to be based. 

The Old Testament Lessons (2 Sam. i.; 2 Sam. xii. 
I-24; or xviil.) furnish us with the pathetic story of 
the death of Saul, Israel’s first king, and give us David’s 
sad lament over his beloved Jonathan. 


} 


SEVENTH SUNDAY AFTER TRINITY 


The Collect 
Lorp of all power and might, who art the author and 
giver of all good things; Graft in our hearts the love of 
thy Name, increase in us true religion, nourish us with all 
goodness, and of thy great mercy keep us in the same ; 
through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen. 


O Lord! to dust my faint soul cleaves: 
Rich is thy sowing, few my sheaves. 
I own Thy bounteous gifts, but mourn 
My scanty and perverse return. 

I know not all I say in this, 

But give, oh, give me Holiness. 


SEVENTH SUNDAY AFTER TRINITY 97 


HE Seventh Sunday after Trinity has been called 
the Sunday of Nutrition, from its Gospel, the 
miracle of the loaves. 

The thought uppermost in the Christian heart, how- 
ever, as voiced in the Collect for the Day, is that of 
growth in Holiness. The Collect itself is a prayer for 
grace in the life of sanctification. 

God is the source of all holiness of life. The Spirit is 
called ‘the Holy Spirit,’ the Spirit of holiness. The 
Christian is called ‘the new man, which after God is 
created in righteousness and true holiness.’ The 
scriptural character of the Collect is seen in its clear 
recognition of God as the ‘ Author and Giver of all good 
things ’, for, as St. James declares, ‘Every good gift and 
every perfect gift is from above, and cometh down from 
the Father of lights.’ 

The Christian life is a derived life. ‘I am the True 
Vine,’ said the Lord Jesus, ‘and ye are the branches.’ 
The relation of the believer to the Saviour is as intimate, 
as close, as real, as is the branch to the vine. The 
Christian is joined to Christ by faith, and united in 
mysterious union, grafted into the fullness of His divine 
life by the Spirit, and lives in Christ. This is the secret 
of the Fruit of the Spirit, Who takes the things of Christ 
and produces them in our lives. How true are the 
words of the prophet, ‘From Me is thy fruit found!’ 
Then, again, the Lord Christ said, ‘The words that I 
speak unto you, they are spirit and they are life.’ And 
St. James bids Christians to ‘receive with meekness 
the engrafted word, which is able to save’ their ‘souls ’. 
The Word of God, as a perfect graft, influences the whole 
character, and brings forth the fruit of holiness in the 

H 


98 THE CHURCH YEAR 


life. It is no wonder that the myriad-minded Shake- 
speare saw its wondrous influence : 
This is an art 
Which does mend nature—change it, rather. 
And so the great Husbandman grafts in our hearts the 
love of His name, for love is of God, and ‘ the love of 
God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost ’. 

Where there is life there is growth, and St. Peter bids 
those to whom he wrote, to ‘ grow in grace, and in the 
knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ’. And the Collect 
is in entire keeping with St. Paul’s prayer for his beloved 
Corinthians, ‘Now He that ministereth seed to the 
sower . . . increase the fruits of your righteousness.’ 
The good work which God has begun, He will perfect. 
He will supply every need of His people, and nourish 
them with all goodness. The promise of the Psalmist 
is theirs: ‘Those that be planted in the house of the 
Lord shall flourish in the courts of our God.’ 

The Epistle (Rom. vi. 19) is a call to holiness, by 
yielding the whole life to the service of God. 

The Gospel (Mark viii. I) is the miracle of the feeding 
of the Four Thousand, the great lesson of God’s bountiful 
provision for human need. He that feeds the body, 
will provide for the soul. 

The Old Testament Lessons (1 Chron. xxXi., xxii., or 
xxvil.) tell the story of the preparation for the Temple 
of God by King David, and are fruitful in suggestion 
in regard to sanctification. 

The root idea of holiness is the life set apart for God. 
And as Robert Murray McCheyne said, ‘The whole 
Bible testifies that the ways in which the Spirit leads us 
are ways of pleasantness and peace.’ Holiness is happi- 
ness. 


99 


EIGHTH SUNDAY AFTER TRINITY 


The Collect 
O Gop, whose never-failing providence ordereth all things 
both in heaven and earth ; We humbly beseech thee to put 
away from us all hurtful things, and to give us those things 
which be profitable for us ; through Jesus Christ our Lord. 
Amen. 
*Tis true the heart will often quail 
When the way is dark and drear, 
Then closer cling to Him whose voice 
Can still each rising fear, 
And make these darkened hearts of ours 
As bright as heaven is clear.—ANON. 


HE need of God’s keeping power is ever present to 

the Christian’s mind. It isa truth of experience, as 
well as of revelation, that we are dependent beings. We 
cannot keep ourselves. We need constant supplies from 
God, both for body and for soul: ‘Give us this day our 
daily bread,’ a merciful provision for our physical and 
spiritual needs. 

The Collect is a confession of God’s never-failing 
Providence, and of His gracious ordering of all things 
in heaven and earth. It is also a prayer for deliverance 
from all that would hurt or hinder us in our earthly 
pilgrimage: ‘ Deliver us from evil.’ It rests its faith 
in God, the Almighty, who preserves, rules, and orders 
all things. It remembers the Covenant in its cry, ‘ for 
those things which be profitable for us.’ ‘ My God shall 
supply all your need according to His riches in glory 
by Christ Jesus.’ 

The Epistle (Rom. viii. 12) is a call to the Christian 
to a Spirit-led life. It reminds us of the glorious 

H 2 


100 THE CHURCH YEAR 


assurance of the Spirit, that we who believe ‘are the 
children of God’, and if so what can be wanting, for ‘ if 
children, then heirs ; heirs of God, and joint heirs with 
Christ.’ Can more be said ? 

The Gospel (Matt. vii. 15) is a warning against false 
teachers. No warning is more necessary for our times, 
for thousands seem willing to accept any teaching which 
has a semblance to religion. The test furnished is that 
of fruit-bearing. ‘ By their fruits ’ are they to be known. 
Sound doctrine and holy living should go together. 

The Old Testament Lessons (1 Chron. xxix. 9-29; 
2 Chron. i,; or Kings iii.) continue the story of all that 
was in Dayid’s heart as he provided for the building of 
the Lord’s House; and carry us to Solomon’s work for 
God, as he sought the Divine Wisdom in the mighty 
work committed to his hands. 

It is a lesson for all times, and for all Christians, the 
feeling of need, of utter and entire dependence upon God. 
The shores of eternity are strewn with shattered wrecks 
of many who trusted in themselves. But no one, who, 
looking away from self to Christ has trusted Him, has 
ever sunk to rise no more. They cannot sink, for the 
promise runs, ‘when thou ‘passest through the waters, 
I will be with thee.’ 

The guardian care of God is ever over His people. 
Never for a moment does He leave them, nor forsake 
them. ‘The Lord Himself is thy keeper,’ and with 
unceasing vigilance He watches above His own. The 
believer’s security is complete; ‘He keeps him as the 
apple of His eye.’ The Christian may rest unhesitatingly 
upon the sure word, ‘ Kept by the mighty power of God.’ 

The merciful provision of God for the children of His 
love and care is constant and sure, ‘ He gives us all 


EIGHTH SUNDAY AFTER TRINITY tor 


things richly to enjoy.’ He has provided for His 
people through all the ages, sending ‘ rain from heaven, 
and fruitful seasons, filling their hearts with food and 
gladness.’ Above all, He has given us His Son Jesus 
Christ, and He that spared not His Son, ‘ but freely 
gave Him up for us all, how shall He not with Him also 
freely give us all things ?’ 


?, 


& 


NINTH SUNDAY AFTER TRINITY 


The Collect 
Grant to us, Lord, we beseech thee, the spirit to think 
and do always such things as be rightful; that we, who 
cannot do any thing that is good without thee, may by thee 
be enabled to live according to thy will: through Jesus 
Christ our Lord. Amen. 


Thrice holy Fount, thrice holy Fire, 
Our hearts with heavenly love inspire. 
Tr. from Latin by DRYDEN. 
If in Thee it be not wrought, 
All in men is simply nought, 
Nothing pure in deed and thought. 
Tr. from Latin by Wm. MERCER. 


HE blessing of spiritual enlightenment, and the 
need of spiritual power to follow God’s leading 
and to fulfil His will, are borne in upon the Christian’s 
heart to-day, and form the subject of his earnest petition 
at the throne of grace. 
This was in large part Milton’s noble prayer : 
Thou, O Spirit, that dost prefer 
Before all temples the upright heart and pure, 
Instruct me. 


102 THE CHURCH YEAR 


But there is a further plea for grace to carry out into 
loving faithful deed the God-inspired thought, for 
strength to be a doer of the Word, and not a hearer only. 

The Holy Spirit is the author of good thoughts. He 
alone can help us to fulfil the commandment, to love God 
with all our mind. For He alone can give us the mind 
which was in Christ Jesus. The prayer seeks His 
guidance and controlling power over the mental pro- 
cesses. It tells of our desire to think right thoughts, 
and in the very cry for the good, there is as well the 
exclusion of the evil. For the way to banish wrong 
thoughts from the mind, is to have it occupied with the 
good. It was a saying of Luther, as he spoke of the 
terrible injury wrought by evil thoughts, that while we 
may not be able to prevent the birds from flying above 
us, we can keep them from building their nests in our hair. 
We need not give the wrong thoughts a lodgement, and 
the great principle of Chalmers is along the same lines 
of thought, as he spoke of ‘ the expulsive power of a new 
affection ’. It is the light that drives out the darkness. 

The Holy Spirit is the great Teacher. It is His office 
to take the things of Christ, and to bring them home to 
the minds of men. The believer who looks to the Holy 
Spirit for light and leading is literally ‘ taught of God’. 
The Holy Spirit is not only the inspirer of the Word of 
God, but He is its interpreter as well. 

The right thought needs to be translated into Sebe 
“Go put your creed into your deed,’ says Emerson. 

How can this be done ? We confess that we ‘ cannot 
do anything that is good without Thee ’, in words which 
seem almost to re-echo what the Saviour Himself said, 
‘Without Me ye can do nothing.’ 

The whole secret lies in the power of the Holy Spirit, 


NINTH SUNDAY AFTER TRINITY 103 


whose gracious assistance we ask. And this is entirely 
scriptural: ‘Teach me to do Thy will, for Thou art my 
God; Thy Spirit is good.’ Nay, more; we seek a 
surrendered will and life, and practically say, ‘Not my 
will but Thine be done.’ And this brings us into direct 
touch with God’s mode of working, as St. Peter tells us 
of the power of ‘ the Holy Ghost, which God hath given 
to them that obey Him’. 

The Epistle (1 Cor. x. 1) points to the source of supply 
of every spiritual blessing—Christ, the Rock of Ages, 
and raises a note of warning touching the frailty of our 
mortal nature, the dangers which beset our path in the 
way of manifold temptations, and assures us of the faith- 
fulness of God. 

The Gospel (Luke xvi. 1) brings before us the responsi- 
bility of stewardship, and draws the lesson of the supreme 
importance of the things of the spirit, from the actions 
of men in time. 

The Old Testament Lessons are taken from 1 Kings 
xX. I-25; Xi. I-I5, Or Xxvi., and are most suggestive 
in teaching concerning the office and work of the Holy 
Spirit, who is the Spirit of Wisdom. While Solomon 
sought the guidance of God, the wise thought was 
succeeded by the wise deed. But when he leaned upon 
his own fancied wisdom, and rested in his own judge- 
ment, he failed and fell. 

No lesson is more important for the individual Chris- 
tian, and for the Church of Christ, than that of the 
knowledge of human frailty, and our entire dependence 
upon the Holy Spirit. 


104 THE CHURCH YEAR 


TENTH SUNDAY AFTER TRINITY 


The Collect 
Let thy merciful ears, O Lord, be open to the prayers of 
thy humble servants; and that they may obtain their 
petitions make them to ask such things as shall please thee ; 
through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen. 


That God grants prayer, but in His love 
Makes times, and ways His own. 


We, ignorant of ourselves, 
Beg often our own harms, but the wise powers 
Deny us for our good. 


The prayers I make will then be sweet indeed, 

If Thou the Spirit give by which I pray: 

My unassisted heart is barren clay, 

That of its native self can nothing feed. 
MICHAEL ANGELO. 


HE subject of prayer is prominently brought before 
the mind to-day, and the Collect clearly shows the 
secret of successful prayer. 

What is that blessed secret ? It is the spirit that 
yields itself completely to the will of God. The first 
element of true prayer is self-surrender. ‘Father. . . 
not my will but Thine be done.’ 

There is a step, however, that precedes obedience. 
That step is faith, and without faith prayer is impossible. 
In order to come to God we must believe that He is, and 
in order to come acceptably, or indeed to any purpose, 
we must trust Him. This is the spirit of the child life, 
which Jesus taught us we must possess before we can 
enter the kingdom. 

Then personal trust and self-surrender going hand in 


TENTH SUNDAY AFTER TRINITY 105 


hand, we enter into the region of promise, ‘ If ye abide 
in Me, and My words abide in you, ye shall ask what ye 
will, and it shall be done unto you.’ The condition is 
fulfilled, and we can come with perfect confidence to 
God, Who is both a hearer and an answerer of prayer. 

But there is in the Collect, not only the thought of 
faith, and of submission, but also of the need of guidance, 
if we are to pray aright. How entirely scriptural it is, 
for we know not what we should pray for as we ought, 
but the Spirit helpeth our infirmities, voices our deep 
need, and teaches us to pray for such things as are for 
our good. 

It is thus that our poor and imperfect petitions are 
filled with higher purpose ; the weak instrument of earth, 
being touched by the breath of the Spirit, yields the 
music of heaven. This is true harmony, the soul of man 
in sweet accord with the mind and will of God. 

There can be no question about the answer, when the 
primary conditions are fulfilled. There was no revela- 
tion of Jesus Christ more clearly or more constantly given 
than the perfect certainty of an answer to prayer. He 
pledged His word that it should be fulfilled, nay more, 
that He would, in His own person, furnish the answer. 
‘Whatsoever ye shall ask in My name, that will I do.’ 
Godet points out that the received reading gives emphasis 
to the promise, ‘ I myself will do it.’ 

How can the response be wanting, when the heart 
looks up to God in childlike trust, the will is brought into 
accord with the Divine will, the Spirit speaks from within 
the soul, the petition is offered in the name of Jesus, and 
Christ Himself, at the right hand of the Father, pre- 
sents as our great advocate our wants and wishes at 
the throne of Grace ? 


106 THE CHURCH YEAR 


The Epistle (1 Cor. xii. 1) develops the thought of the 
need of spiritual gifts, which can only come from the 
Holy Spirit. It lays stress upon the manifold character 
of the gifts which flow from the Divine Spirit’s presence 
in the Church, which is the Body of Christ. In the 
Divine Wisdom, these rich gifts are varied to meet the 
individual need, and to fulfil God’s holy purpose in the 
life of the individual, and in the work of His Church. 

The Gospel (Luke xix. 41) portrays Christ weeping 
over Jerusalem. It is a lesson of the tender compassion 
of the Lord Jesus, the depth of His yearning love for 
sinners, of His willingness to save even to the uttermost. 
The cleansing of the temple shows the reverence He felt 
for the House of Prayer. 

The Old Testament Lessons (1 Kings Xii., xiii., or XVii.) 
tell the story of the division of the Kingdoms of Israel 
and Judah, and incidentally illustrate the need of prayer, 
if we are to be guided aright amidst the perplexities of 
life ; while the last lesson shows the efficacy of prayer in 
the person of Elijah, who stands in Scriptures as a notable 
example of a man who had power with God, and who 
prevailed. 


& 


ELEVENTH SUNDAY AFTER TRINITY 


The Collect 


O Gop, who declarest thy almighty power most chiefly 
in showing mercy and pity; Mercifully grant unto us such 
a measure of thy grace, that we, running the way of thy 
commandments, may obtain thy gracious promises, and be 
made partakers of thy heavenly treasure; through Jesus 
Christ our Lord. Amen. 


ELEVENTH SUNDAY AFTER TRINITY 107 


Oh, let Thy sacred will 
All Thy delight in me fulfil! 
Let me not think an action mine own way, 
But as Thy love shall sway ; 
Resigning up the rudder to Thy skill.—GrorcEe HERBERT. 
Obedience is nobler than freedom! What’s free ? 
The vex’d straw on the wind, the froth’d spume on the sea ! 
The great ocean itself, as it rolls and it swells, 
In the bonds of a boundless obedience dwells.—LytTTon. 


HE life of Obedience, as the Collect beautifully 

suggests, is a fruit of grace. It is the ‘obedience 
of faith’. For faith has in it the element of obedience, 
and faith certainly leads to obedience. There is the 
thought of submission as well as of trust. 

Obedience is due to God, by us, as His children. It 
is the perfect conformity of our hearts and minds to His 
holy will. It is positive, in that it aims at the carrying 
out of God’s direct commands, and negative in that it 
seeks to avoid all that is contrary to His word and will. 
It is born of love to Christ. ‘If ye love Me,’ said the 
Lord Jesus, ‘keep My commandments.’ It is universal 
in its application, covering every phase of duty to God 
and man. 

It is along the path of obedience that we learn more 
fully the will of God. ‘If any man will do His will,’ 
said Christ, ‘ he shall know of the doctrine, whether it 
be of God, or whether I speak of Myself.’ For this 
reason, obedience has been called the organ of spiritual 
knowledge. For Christianity is not simply a religion of 
theory, but of practice. Indeed, it is known only in 
practice. 

In Hebrew history there were two outstanding 
characters, who stood in the long history of the people 


108 THE CHURCH YEAR 


as examples of the meaning of obedience, and of dis- 
obedience. 

In the roll of spiritual heroes there is nothing nobler 
than the heroism of Abraham, who, ‘ when he was tried, 
offered up Isaac.’ ‘ All ages,’ as Bishop Hall so justly 
says, ‘have stood amazed’ at Abraham’s faith. It issued 
indeed in perfect obedience. There was no reserve in it, 
no holding back, but absolute surrender to God’s com- 
mand. It was this that made Abraham, the ‘ father of 
the faithful ’, the spiritual father of all who believe. By 
the grace of God, he trusted God’s word, he yielded his 
will to the divine, and his faith led to action. This is 
obedience, belief in action. 

Moses stands forth on the page of Holy Writ as a 
character almost faultless, wearing the “ white flower of a 
blameless life’. The faith of the man is almost equal 
to the sublime trust of Abraham, his meekness is excep- 
tional, his spirit of self-sacrifice and devotion unsur- 
passed, his unselfishness an inspiration. 

But even Moses, ‘the man of God,’ fails. One only, 
the Lord Jesus, has lived the life of perfect trust and 
absolute obedience. Moses, at Meribah, fell into unbelief 
and disobedience. It was but one little act, of a man 
wearied out by an exasperating people, under trying 
conditions, but it settled like a blight on the fair flower of 
his life. The meekest of men was filled with anger, the 
heart of faith was overcast with doubt, the submissive 
will rebelled; there was a threefold fall into doubt, 
wrath, disobedience. 

And from this one act came forth the most bitter 
disappointment that could have befallen Moses. He 
was not suffered to enter the land of promise. The 
prayer of this patriot heart, to set foot in the God-given 


ELEVENTH SUNDAY AFTER TRINITY 109 


land, was not granted, that all Israel throughout their 
generations might learn the terrible evil of disobedience, 
The loss of one man thus became a source of infinite 
gain to a people, throughout all their national history, in 
blessing which overflowed their boundaries, and en- 
riched the whole world. 

The Epistle (x Cor. xv. 1-12) while it primarily refers 
to the Resurrection of Christ, teaches the deepest lessons 
concerning the work of grace in the believer’s heart. 
‘ By the grace of God I am what I am.’ 

The Gospel (Luke xviii. 9-15) is the matchless story 
of the Pharisee and the Publican in the Temple at prayer, 
with its rich teaching of the meaning of mercy, grace, 
and humility, and its plain warnings against self- 
righteousness. 

The Old Testament Lessons (x Kings xviii, xix, or 
xxi) furnish the chief points in the life of Elijah, that 
mighty man of God, whose grand mission was to lead 
back a straying people into the pathway of obedience, and 
to vindicate the name of Jehovah as the one God above 
all, whose we are, and whom we ought to serve, 


% 


TWELFTH SUNDAY AFTER TRINITY 


The Collect 


ALMIGHTy and everlasting God, who art always more 
ready to hear than we to pray, and art wont to give more 
than either we desire, or deserve ; Pour down upon us the 
abundance of thy mercy ; forgiving us those things whereof 
our conscience is afraid, and giving us those good things 
which we are not worthy to ask, but through the merits 
and mediation of Jesus Christ, thy Son, our Lord. Amen, 


. 


IIo THE CHURCH YEAR 


Conscience does make cowards of us all. 
SHAKESPEARE. 
Oh that I knew if He forgiveth! 
My soul is faint within, 
Because in grievous fear it liveth 
Of wages due to sin.—TWELLs. 
I am a sinner full of doubts and fears, 
Make me a humble thing of Love and Tears. 
HARTLEY COLERIDGE. 


HE gracious gift of God’s forgiveness is the great 

theme, the one thought of the Collect. God is 
the Giver of all, of every good and perfect gift, and He 
alone can forgive sin. 

‘ There is forgiveness with Thee ’ (Ps. cxxx. 4). It is in 
the light of this revelation that we approach God ; apart 
from it we have no encouragement to draw nigh to God. 

Under the Old Testament dispensation, God provided 
"a way of access by which the sinner could come to Him 
seeking the promised forgiveness. This is found as early 
as the days of Abel, of whom the divine record says, 
“The Lord had respect unto Abel and to his offering ’ 
(Gen. iv. 4). The sacrifice offered by Abraham was 
divinely appointed. The sacrificial system, under the 
law, was not only intended to awaken in the heart of 
man a consciousness of sin, but also to open a way of 
forgiveness. 

The Lord Jesus Christ has revealed the perfect Way of 
Forgiveness. He is Himself the living Way, and he has 
taught us to pray in particular for the forgiveness of our 
sins. The act of forgiveness, and the certainty attached 
to it, is all closely identified with Christ. As Martensen 
wisely points out, if it rested upon our sanctification, 


TWELFTH SUNDAY AFTER TRINITY 111 


we should be in a continual state of uncertainty. ‘My best 
actions require forgiveness,’ and this fact led him to the 
Pauline position, restated in Luther’s great principle of 
justification by faith in Christ alone, for ‘Good deeds do 
not make a man pious, but a pious man does good deeds ’. 

The great Lange has well remarked that the whole of 
Christianity is found in one sentence, ‘To Him give all 
the prophets witness, that through His Name whosoever 
believeth in Him shall receive remission of sins’ (Acts 
x. 43). The clearest testimony is here given to the 
fact that faith in Christ, the only Saviour, Mediator, 
and Reconciler, is the direct, and indeed the only way 
of forgiveness and of salvation, of which it is the great 
central principle. 

The great need of our humanity is thus met by the 
Gospel of God’s grace, and of forgiving love. The 
merciful provision for sin is all in Jesus Christ, ‘in whom 
we have redemption through His blood, even the for- 
giveness of sins.’ 

God does forgive, graciously, willingly, but still in 
accordance with His own plan of salvation, through 
repentance and faith. The moral principle is upheld, 
while salvation is placed within the reach of all. 

We are told in these days that we are under the 
dominion of fixed moral laws as inexorable and immov- 
able as those of the physical universe. In a word, he 
who breaks a law must take the consequences. Forgive- 
ness there is none. It is a hard saying, but faith in God 
saves us from the misery of such an opinion, which 
limits the power of the Almighty. 

Another belief which has gained currency is that man 
needs no forgiveness, or if he does, that he can forgive 
himself. This view sets aside the whole work of redemp- 


112 THE CHURCH YEAR 


tion, forgets that it cost more to redeem souls than they 
imagine, and makes the suffering and death of Christ 
a hopeless enigma. 

There are many, again, who believe that God is so good 
and merciful, that He forgives universally, He is so 
kind and loving, it is argued, that He forgives freely of 
His own accord, apart from all considerations. But this 
view derogates from every proper idea of God. It does 
despite to His moral character; it sacrifices God’s 
justice and holiness, and weakens our thought of God 
to a Being of easy-going good nature. The criminal 
would count a human judge very merciful if he allowed 
him to escape well-merited punishment, but every right 
thinking man would realize that a great wrong had been 
done, and untold evil wrought in the life of the com- 
munity, by a lowering of the ideals of justice, and a 
confusion of thought in regard to the eternal distinctions 
of right and wrong, 

The Gospel is the answer to every partial and unfair 
view of God and His dealings with men. There is for- 
giveness with God, but it is in His own appointed way. 
And in this, as our Homily of Salvation so succinctly 
states, ‘with His endless mercy He joined His most 
upright and equal justice.’ 

The Epistle (2 Cor. iii. 4-10) furnishes the thought of 
entire confidence in God, in whom alone is our suffi- 
ciency, It lays great stress upon the necessity of remem- 
bering that in the Christian life the spiritual is all- 
important ; that our holy religion is marked throughout 
by spirituality. ‘ The spirit giveth life.’ 

The Gospel (Mark vii. 31) has given a name to the 
Sunday, Ephphatha Sunday. It is the miracle of the 
healing of the deaf man, with the impediment in his 


TWELFTH SUNDAY AFTER TRINITY 113 


speech. Our Lord’s divine power is in strong evidence. 
We need to remember as well His spiritual power, by 
which the morally deaf hear the Word of God and the 
dumb lips learn to sing His praise. 

The Old Testament Lessons (1 Kings xxii. I-41 ; 
2 Kings ii. 1-16 ; or iv. 8-38) tell the story of the closing 
scenes of the life of Ahab, show us Elijah in his glorious 
translation, and introduce us to Elisha at the beginning 
of his ministry. The faithfulness of God is thus illus- 
trated in a most remarkable way. 


He 


THIRTEENTH SUNDAY AFTER TRINITY 


The Collect 
ALMIGHTY and merciful God, of whose only gift it cometh 
that thy faithful people do unto thee true and laudable 
service ; Grant, we beseech thee, that we may so faithfully 
serve thee in this life, that we fail not finally to attain thy 
heavenly promises ; through the merits of Jesus Christ our 
Lord. Amen. 


They also serve who only stand and wait.—MILTON. 
As ever in my great Taskmaster’s eye.—MILTON. 


Small service is true service while it lasts. 
WORDSWORTH. 


Get leave to work 
In this world, ’tis the best you get at all ; 
For God in cursing, gives us better gifts 
Than man in benediction.—E. B, BRowninc. 


Our duty down here is to do, not to know ;— 
Live as though life were earnest, and life will be so! 
LYTTON, 
I 


ir4 THE CHURCH YEAR 


Faith’s meanest deed more favour bears, 

Where hearts and wills are weigh’d, ' 

Than brightest transports, choicest prayers, 

Which bloom their hour and fade.—J. H. NEwMan. 


HE Life of Service is the life worth living. It is 

the life to which God calls us all, ‘ Whose we are, 
and Whom we ought to serve.’ It is for this that we are 
saved, to love and serve. 

There is a question which is constantly crying for 
solution : ‘ What is the purpose of our life, the supreme 
object of our being ?’ It cannot be to pass our time in 
aimless indolence, or in pleasure seeking. Nor can it be 
the existence which is measured by eating and drinking, 
and sleeping and waking, and living and working for the 
things of time. 

It is rather to live a life of trust whichleads to checienes 
which fills the hours and days with loving service. The 
motto of the Prince of Wales—won on the fateful field of 
Crecy, when King John of Bohemia, who had borne it, 
fell—‘ Ich dien’ (‘I serve’), should be the life motto of 
every child of God. 

In the world in which we live we must choose one of 
the two services which lie open to us. The Lord Jesus 
showed that we cannot remain neutral, when he laid 
down the principle, ‘No man can serve two masters’; and 
St. Paul tells us, ‘ his servants ye are whom ye obey.’ 

“Ye were the servants of sin,’ St. Paul writes to the 
Romans, as he defines in a sentence their previous con- 
dition. And this is astate ofslavery. As King James II 
said to his son on his death-bed, ‘ There is no slavery 
like the slavery of sin, and no liberty like God’s service.’ 
And this has been proved by thousands, in a thousand 


THIRTEENTH SUNDAY AFTER TRINITY 115 


ways. Alexander conquered the world, but was con- 
. quered by one vice, that of intemperance. Judas, the 
base Judaean, for a few pieces of silver, the price of 
a slave, ‘ threw a pearl away richer than all his tribe.’ 
Solomon, in all his wisdom, suffered his heart to be won 
from God, and became a slave of passion. Demas for- 
sook that service which is perfect freedom, for the 
slavery of the world. The result has been ever the same 
as Cardinal Wolsey confessed : 


Had I but served my God with half the zeal 
I served my king, He would not in mine age 
Have left me naked to mine enemies. 


It has been the same experience in all the ages. St. 
Paul asked the Romans, What fruit had ye then in those 
things whereof ye are now ashamed ? for the end of 
those things is death. The present gain, if there be any, 
ends in future loss. And the loss is often, as in the case 
of the drunkard, present and complete. 

The characteristics of true service should be kept in 
mind. The first is, implicit obedience. A disobedient 
servant is often useless, or worse indeed, often dangerous. 

Then obedience should be from the heart. In the 
spiritual life the motive is really everything. Unless 
there is love, the service will be poor and unprofitable. 
The mere outward professor of religion, who yields a 
seeming obedience, but in whose heart there is no spirit 
of love, cannot really serve. What must God, therefore, 
think of the cold and formal religionist, whose motive 
may be merely display ? The only service that counts 
is that in which love has its place, and which constantly 
gives fresh proof of its reality by self-sacrifice. 

The service of God should be whole-hearted. It should 

12 


116 THE CHURCH YEAR 


cover not one part of life alone, as if we could make 
divisions in it, but all. Our time, our talents, our means, 
our energies, should all be placed at the feet of our Master. 
We sometimes forget that the secular side of life belongs 
to God as well as the spiritual. 

It is a reasonable service commanding our rational 
faculties. And it is a happy service, in fact the only true 
happiness is found in it. 

The power in which we are to serve is that of the 
Holy Spirit. The way of service is in following Christ, ‘ I 
am among you as He that serveth.’ ‘If any man serve 
Me, let him follow Me.’ The reward is glorious, ‘ where 
I am, there shall also My servant be.’ 

The Epistle (Gal. iii. 16-23) is a brief history of God’s 
promise, given to Abraham and his seed, and perfectly 
fulfilled in Christ. It is all of grace, by faith given to 
them that believe. 

The Gospel (Luke x. 23-38) is Christ’s marvellous 
illustration of love exemplified in neighbourliness, as 
shown in the parable of the man who fell among the 
thieves and was succoured by the Good Samaritan. 

The Old Testament Lessons (2 Kings v.; 2 Kings 
vi. I-24; or vil.) furnish the story of the ministry of 
Elisha, and tell first God’s mercy to Naaman the Syrian, 
and then of the discomfiture of the Syrians, and of the 
feeding of the Israelites when sorely distressed by want. 
The true service of Elisha is thus honoured by God. 


* 


117 


FOURTEENTH SUNDAY AFTER TRINITY 


The Collect 
ALMIGHTY and everlasting God, give unto us the increase 
of faith, hope, and charity ; and, that we may obtain that 
which thou dost promise, make us to love that which thou 
dost command ; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen. 


Faith is the sun of life, and her countenance shines like 
the Hebrew’s, 
For she has looked upon God.—LONGFELLow. 
What then is Hope ?—a Faith that dares to move! 
And what is Faith ?—the happy rest of Love. 
AUBREY DE VERE. 
Hope, Child! To-morrow hope, and then again to-morrow, 
And then to-morrow still! Trust in a future day, 
Hope, and each morn the skies new light from dawn shall 
borrow ; 
As God is there to bless let us be there to pray. 
Victor Huco. 
Faith and hope and love we see, 
Joining hand in hand agree ; 
But the greatest of the three, 
And the best, is love. 
CHRISTOPHER WORDSWORTH. 


HE cry of the heart to-day, as voiced in prayer, 
is for the permanent presence of the triad of 
Christian graces—Faith, Hope, and Charity. The 
Apostles said unto the Lord, increase our faith. St. Paul 
prayed for the Romans, ‘ that ye may abound in hope,’ 
and for the Philippians, ‘I pray that your love may 
abound yet more and more.’ 
Faith is trust. It is the confiding reliance of the heart. 
It is heart-belief in a person. Faith is the faculty which 


118 THE CHURCH YEAR 


realizes the invisible. It is by faith we believe in God, 
are joined to Christ, live the spiritual life, overcome the 
world. Faith is the blessed secret of success in prayer, 
of power in service, of patience in trial, of fruitfulness 
in life, and of victory in death. 


‘I do believe! help Thou my unbelief!’ 
Is the last greatest utterance of the soul. 


Faith is the foundation principle of Christianity. It is 
the uniting link between man and God. In its origin it is 
the gift of God, in its operation it is the work of the Holy 
Spirit, in its object it looks to Christ, and clings to Him. 

Hope is a desire for good, coupled with expectancy. 
It is akin to trust, in that it has also the spirit of con- 
fidence. The root is found in the old Anglo-Saxon and 
means to open the eyes wide, and to look for what is to 
come. Hope is the mainspring of life. It gives colour 
to every spiritual conception. It is a necessary element 
in religious experience. Indeed, it is the saving salt of 
our earthly pilgrimage. It ‘springs eternal in the 
human breast’. There is an old saying, ‘ While there 
is life, there is hope.’ The world’s highest motto, as 
St. Bernard said, is Dum spiro spero (Whilst I breathe 
I hope); but the Christian may add Dum expiro se 
(Whilst I expire I hope). 

The figure St. Paul uses of the helmet of salvation is 
Hope protecting the head, the centre of the intellectual 
powers. As the shield of faith protects the heart, so 
the helmet of hope guards the mind. This is very 
suggestive, for unless hope inspires the mind, there is 
no courage, no largeness of view, no high purpose or 
great endeavour. As Dr. Johnson pointed out, our 
powers owe much of their energy to hope. — 


| 


FOURTEENTH SUNDAY AFTER TRINITY 119 


But hope is an anchor as well. It is a star to guide, 
a helmet to protect, an anchor to hold. And Christ 
Himself is the anchor of the soul. In the world of 
action, the sailor drops the anchor into the deep, so that 
his ship may ride in safety. The Christian’s anchor is 
within the veil, Christ has entered into the heavens 
and all our hope is there. That anchor holds. 

Then there is Love, or Charity, as the old translation 
runs. In Wycliffe’s day, and for many years later, love 
and charity were synonymous. But the old use, natural 
enough from its origin, carus=dear, has probably gone 
for ever. In its original use, Charity meant the very 
highest possible form of love for God or man, but now 
it is so restricted as to cover almsgiving, or a kind con- 
struction placed upon an act. Its meaning is not even 
as wide as benevolence. Love is of God, for ‘ God is 
Love’. Love is the highest good, for it is the mani- 
festation of the life of God. Every virtue flows, as 
St. Augustine showed, from love. Temperance is love, 
keeping itself pure. Fortitude is love, readily enduring 
all things. Peace is love reclining. Long-suffering is 
love bearing. 

Dean Stanley gave utterance not only to a beautiful 
sentiment, but laid down a true principle, when he said : 
‘Faith founded the Church: Hope has sustained it: 
I cannot help thinking that it is reserved for Love to 
reform it.’ 

God is in the hand of faith, He is in the eye of hope 
and He is in the heart of love. 

These three gifts are attainable. They are from God, 
and are bound up with the promise of Christ, ‘ He that 
seeketh findeth.’ 

The Epistle (Gal. v. 16-25) is St. Paul’s remarkable 


120 THE CHURCH YEAR 


contrast between the works of the flesh and the fruit of 
the Spirit. Its lesson is plain, every good gift is from 
God, who through His Spirit produces the fruit of 
Christ’s life in our souls. 

The Gospel (Luke xvii. 11-20) is the cleansing of the 
Ten Lepers by Christ, with its suggestive lesson of the 
duty of thankfulness or gratitude. 

The Old Testament Lessons are 2 Kings ix.; x. I-32; 
or Xiii., with their wonderful fulfilment of prophecy ; 
displaying at once long-suffering love, patient waiting, 
and yet certain judgement. 


FIFTEENTH SUNDAY AFTER TRINITY 


The Collect 
KEEP, we beseech thee, O Lord, thy Church with thy 
perpetual mercy: and, because the frailty of man without 
thee cannot but fall, keep us ever by thy help from all 
things hurtful, and lead us to all things profitable to our 
salvation; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen. 


God, being so great, great gifts most willingly imparts ; 
But we continue poor that have such narrow hearts. 
Asp. TRENCH. 
Christ’s faith makes but one body of all souls, 
And Love’s that Body’s Soul.—CrasHaw. 


HE need of God’s continual keeping finds expres- 

sion to-day. The(|Church of God in faith looks 
up to its Divine Master, knowing that His promise will 
be kept, ‘ Lo I am with you alway even unto the end of 
the world.’ So the Lord Jesus prayed, while He was in 
the flesh, ‘ Holy Father, keep through Thine own Name, 
those whom Thou hast given Me.’ And the prophet 


FIFTEENTH SUNDAY AFTER TRINITY 121 


Isaiah had long before foretold God’s gracious purpose 
to His Church, ‘I the Lord do keep it.’ The speaker is 
God Himself, ‘1, Jehovah, its guardian.’ ‘I will water 
it every moment .. . I will keep it day and night.’ 

The frailty of man is a continual source of danger to 
the Church of Christ. We meekly confess, without Thee, 
it cannot but fall. The need is constant to remember 
the apostolic injunction, ‘Let him that thinketh he 
standeth take heed lest he fall.’ But when we know the 
secret of weakness, and in humility and faith look away 
to Christ, the source of all grace, then the promise is 
fulfilled, ‘My strength is made perfect in weakness.’ 

There are dangers from without, as well as from 
within. The Church through all the ages has had to 
face persecution. The powers of earth at first were 
arrayed against it, and physical force was called into play 
to destroy it. It looked at one time as if in its very 
infancy its life would be quenched in blood. Then it 
has had to face the force of intellectual attack, from 
age to age, well illustrated by the fierce war against it 
by Voltaire, who declared, ‘it took twelve men to set 
up Christianity in the world; I will show that it needs 
but one man to destroy it.’ But as the weakness of man 
was met by God’s grace, so the wrath of man had to 
face His Divine power. ‘I the Lord do keep it.’ 

Our whole need, however, is not summed up in being 
kept, and so we look for further blessing. We ask for light 
and leading. We seek such things as are profitable to 
our salvation. And this is in the line of God’s promise 
to His people through Isaiah, ‘I am the Lord thy God 
which teacheth thee to profit, which leadeth thee by the 
way which thou shouldest go.’ And Christ promised 
that the Holy Spirit should lead us into all the truth. 


122 THE CHURCH YEAR 


There is no vagueness in the thought, as Bishop Westcott 
pointed out; it is the truth in all its parts, ‘ into the 
complete understanding of and sympathy with that 
absolute Truth, which is Christ Himself.’ 

The Epistle (Gal. vi. 11) points to the true source of 
every blessing : Christ, and Him crucified. 

The Gospel (Matt. vi. 24) teaches the principle of undi- 
vided service in the cause of Christ and His Church, assures 
us of God’s gracious provision for our every need, and de- 
clares that when the Christian seeks first the Kingdom of 
God, and His righteousness, all other things will be added. 

The Old Testament Lessons (2 Kings xviii., xix., or 
Xxlil. to 31) describe Hezekiah’s good reign, God’s faith- 
fulness to His servant, and Josiah’s zeal for God and truth. 


4 


SIXTEENTH SUNDAY AFTER TRINITY 


The Collect 
O Lorp, we beseech thee, let thy continual pity cleanse 
and defend thy Church; and, because it cannot continue 
in safety without thy succour, preserve it evermore by thy 
help and goodness ; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen. 


First for Himself the High Priest His offering makes ; 
This done, for others, for those nearest found, 

The circle of the sacred Home—and then 
For the whole Church of God.—Asp. TRENCH. 

Nor yet 

(Grave this within thy heart!) if spiritual things 
Be lost through apathy, or scorn, or fear, 

Shalt thou thy humbler franchises support, 

However hardly won or justly dear: 

What came from heaven to heaven by nature clings, 

And if dissevered thence, its course is short. 

WoRDSWORTH. 


SIXTEENTH SUNDAY AFTER TRINITY 123 


HE Peace of the Church is the ruling thought 

to-day. Peace is such a rich and great blessing, 
that it ought ever to be desired, and constantly sought. 
It is indeed ‘a consummation devoutly to be wished’. 

God’s presence and God’s blessing constitute the 
truest Church defence. And so our prayer is, ‘ Let Thy 
continual pity cleanse and defend Thy Church.’ This 
petition is in keeping with the divine revelation, for it 
is said of Christ that He sanctifies and cleanses it with 
the washing of water by the word, so that it should be 
without spot, or wrinkle, or any such thing, ‘ holy, and 
without blemish.’ 

The Peace which our Church teaches us to seek is not 
a false peace. It is not the state of those who cry 
“peace ’, ‘ peace’, when there is no ‘ peace ’. 

“It is false peace,’ as Pascal wisely points out, ‘ to 
preserve peace at the expense of truth.’ And he goes 
to the very root of the matter when he declares: ‘ As 
the only object of peace in the State is the safe preserva- 
tion of the people’s goods, so the only object of peace 
in the Church is to keep in security the truth which is 
her property, and the treasure upon which her heart is 
set.’ There is a time when it is treason to the State to 
secure peace at the expense of her best interests. And 
it is virtually to betray the Church, ‘ when truth is 
assaulted by the enemies of the faith, when they would 
snatch it from the hearts of the faithful, and replace it 
by error,’ and we do not come to her aid, and defend 
her as far as in us lies. It is for this reason, Pascal thinks, 
‘Jesus Christ, Who says that He is come to bring peace, 
says also that He is come to send war.’ 

The truest friends of the Chuich, those who have 
unselfishly sought her best interests, have often been 


124 THE CHURCH YEAR 


the most misunderstood. Athanasius, who stood for 
truth against the world, was opposed by many Bishops 
and Clergy, beset by enemies in Church and State, four 
times an exile, condemned more than once by the councils 
of the Church, hated, reviled, persecuted, called by vile 
names as a disturber of the Church’s peace ; and yet all 
the time he was the friend of peace, because the teacher 
of truth, and under God one of His greatest instruments 
for the preservation of the faith. 

The peace, which is true and lasting, is peace with 
honour. It is like the Divine wisdom, first pure, then 
peaceable. It is founded upon truth, seeks righteousness 
alone, promotes true unity of spirit, in the bonds of love. 

The Epistle (Eph. iii. 13) shows that Christ is the 
centre of all unity, and that He gains the desired end, 
through the power of love. 

The Gospel (Luke vii. 11-18) is the touching story of 
the raising to life of the widow’s son at Nain, with its 
helpful inference of the tenderness and power of Christ. 

The Old Testament Lessons (2 Chron. xxxvi.; Neh. i. 
and ii. to 9; or viii.) tell the sad story of Israel’s disobedi- 
ence, exile, the destruction of Jerusalem, and of God’s lead- 
ing of His people back again to their own loved land. The 
chastening hand was a hand of love, and although the 
lessons of the Captivity were learned in a hard school, 
they were fruitful in results upon the national life, and 
in the spiritual training of God’s people in the Church of 
the Old Covenant. 


125 


SEVENTEENTH SUNDAY AFTER TRINITY 


The Collect 
Lorp, we pray thee that thy grace may always prevent 
and follow us, and make us continually to be given to all 
good works ; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen. 


The trivial round, the common task, 

Will furnish all we ought to ask; 

Room to deny ourselves ; a road 

To bring us, daily, nearer God.— JoHN KEBLE. 


A servant with this clause 
Makes drudgery divine ; 
Who sweeps a room as for Thy laws 
Makes that and th’ action fine. 
GEORGE HERBERT. 


HE life of Grace, which issues in a life of fruitful- 
ness in Good Works, is the blessing which the 
Christian is moved to seek to-day. 

Prevenient Grace is first sought, the grace that goes 
before, or, as it has been beautifully called, ‘ Loving 
Forethought,’ that lays up saving help against the hour 
of trial. The emphatic place given to grace is intended 
to make us feel that without the grace of God we can 
do nothing. ‘Without Me,’ said Christ, ‘ye can do 
nothing.’ The leading idea of grace is the free and 
undeserved mercy and favour of God towards sinners 
through Jesus Christ. But it also conveys the thought 
of power, of supporting strength, of help furnished in 
time of need. And this God gives, through His Holy 
Spirit. The Collect pleads for an atmosphere of grace, 


126 THE CHURCH YEAR 


preceding us, and following us, Christ everywhere as in 
St. Patrick’s Breast-plate : 


Christ be with me, Christ within me, 
Christ behind me, Christ before me, 
Christ beside me, Christ to win me, 
Christ to comfort and restore me, 
Christ beneath me, Christ above me, 
Christ in quiet, Christ in danger, 
Christ in hearts of all that love me, 
Christ in mouth of friend and stranger. 


St. Paul has no sooner shown that we are saved by 
grace through faith, than he goes on to declare that we 
are ‘created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which 
God hath before ordained that we should walk in them.’ 
Luther caught St. Paul’s meaning, and saw the divine 
method, when he said, ‘Good works do not make a 
Christian, but one must be a Christian to do good works. 
The tree bringeth forth the fruit, not the fruit the tree.’ 
The Good Works are the result of grace, the fruit of 
faith, the children of love. We are created for them, 
they are prepared for us. They are closely connected 
with: the supreme purpose of our being. Just as the 
bird is formed to fly, or the fish to swim, so were we made 
to walk in service, and to work for God. 

Good Works : the term is grandly inclusive. They are 
good because they are inspired of God. They are works, 
in that they are in the line of service for God and man. 
One might make a long list of works of charity, of kind- 
ness, of benevolence, of self-sacrifice, of piety, but it is 
enough to say that every work is good that springs from 
faith, is born of love, and is along the line of blessing. 
The common actions of the common day, done in the 
spirit of faith and in loving obedience are ennobled by 


SEVENTEENTH SUNDAY AFTER TRINITY 127 


this principle. And it is creed thus translated into 
conduct that is the best witness of the truth of Chris- 
tianity, and which becomes an attractive force winning 
men to Christ. 

The Epistle (Eph. iv. 1-7) is a call from St. Paul to 
Christians to walk worthy of their high vocation, and to 
remember the unity of the Church, which is Christ’s body. 

The Gospel (Luke xiv. 1-12) shows the lawfulness of 
works of charity and mercy on the Sabbath day, and 
teaches as well the great lesson of humility. 

The Old Testament Lessons (Jer. v., xxii., oF XXxXv.) 
picture God searching His people, and looking for the 
true spirit of service, exhorting them to repentance, 
and setting the seal of approval upon the principle of 
obedience. 

oe 


EIGHTEENTH SUNDAY AFTER TRINITY 


The Collect 
Lorp, we beseech thee, grant thy people grace to with- 
stand the temptations of the world, the flesh, and the devil, 
and with pure hearts and minds to follow thee the only 
God ; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen, 


Tempted oft to go astray, 

Jesu Christ, be Thou my way.—MOonsELL. 
Against me earth and hell combine ; 

But on my side is power divine ; 

Jesus is all, and He is mine.—JoHn NEwrTon. 


RACE to meet and withstand Temptation is the 

ruling thought to-day. The full sweep of tempta- 
tion is kept in view, ‘ the temptations of the world, the 
flesh, and-the devil.’ 


128 . THE CHURCH YEAR 


The temptations of the World are many and dangerous. 
They come to us in so many disguises that they would 
deceive the very elect. They are very insidious, and 
although every age has its own dangers, yet our own, 
on account of the prevailing spirit of materialism, has to 
face as serious ones as ever fell to the lot of man. 

The spiritually-minded and deeply-taught Weiss has 
well remarked that ‘ The world threatens believers not 
only with its enmity, but evermore with its temptation ’. 
And that ‘ Believers are in danger of seduction into 
the sin and falsehood of the world’. And the scholarly 
Lange points out how seductive is the love of the world, 
with its appeal to so many minds, fascinating one by 
this, and another by that, the gold of the earth, human 
wisdom, power, or dominion, even influence in less degree. 
and more limitedsphere. And it was a true insight which 
led F. W. Robertson to say that ‘ worldliness is a more 
decisive test of a man’s spiritual state than even sin’. 
He reasoned that St. John draws a clear distinction 
when he says, ‘ If any man sin we have an advocate with 
the Father,’ but ‘if any man love the world, the love of 
the Father is not in him’. 

The temptations of the Flesh are constantly in evidence. 
Pascal says, that ‘ the lust of the flesh, the lust of the 
eyes, and the pride of life ’ are three rivers of fire, which 
burn rather than refresh. St. Paul, in his warning against 
the sins, or works of the flesh, while he does not exhaust 
the fearful catalogue, yet names seventeen distinct sins, 
which cover at least four clearly defined classes. There 
is Sensuality, comprisiftg adultery, fornication, unclean- 
ness, wantonness; Idolatry, both open and secret ; 
Malice, covering hatred, strife, wrath, and murder; 
and Intemperance, including every form of drunkenness 


EIGHTEENTH SUNDAY AFTER TRINITY 129 


and dissipation. Temptations come, said Dr. Guthrie, 
like a roaring sea-squall. Sometimes no doubt this is true, 
but they often come like a summer breeze, and woo us 
into sleep. We’ need ever to remember the Saviour’s 
warning, ‘Watch and pray, that ye enter not into 
temptation.’ 

The temptations of the Devil come to all. Even 
Christ was not exempt from them. This great and 
powerful spirit may appear even as an angel of light. 
He is able to ‘ blind the eyes of those who believe not ’. 
He is full of all seductive subtlety, and fascinating 
falsity, and- destructive deceit. In a word, he is the 
exact opposite to the Truth incarnate, the Lord Jesus 
Christ. . 

The temptations which beset us are many and terrible. 
The thought of them alone is dispiriting enough. And 
we know them, not only in the way of revelation, but 
by sad experience. It is well to know our own weakness 
and our danger. For, as St. Augustine tells us, there is 
in every man a Serpent, an Eve, and an Adam. Our 
animal nature is the Serpent, concupiscence is the Eve, 
and the Adam is reason. The serpent may tempt, Eve 
may covet, but unless reason gives consent, sin is not 
finished. The saintly Rutherford felt that to live with- 
out temptation would be the greatest temptation out of 
hell, and that at worst the devil is but God’s master- 
fencer, to teach us to handle our weapons. 

Temptation is strong, but grace is stronger. Satan 
is powerful, but Christ has all power in heaven and 
earth. The Stronger than the strong comes to the aid of 
His people in answer to their cry. Jesus has vanquished 
Satan, and is the great Captain of our Salvation. He 
puts a weapon in our hands, even the Sword of the Spirit, 

K 


130 THE CHURCH YEAR 


with which to meet every enemy of our souls. He leads 
us in the way of truth, the path of peace; ‘ walk in the 
Spirit, and ye shall not fulfil the lusts of the flesh.’ 
He whispers to us to be of good courage, and not to fear, 
that ‘ greater is He that is in us, than he that is in the 
world ’. 

The Epistle (1 Cor. i. 4-9) is a thanksgiving to God 
for grace by which the soul is enriched. 

The Gospel (Matt. xxi. 34) is the great Command- 
ment of Love, with the searching question, ‘ What think 
ye of Christ ?’ 

The Old Testament Lessons (Jer. xxxvi.; Ezek. i. ; or 
xill. I-I7) contain the story of Jeremiah’s threatening 
prophecies, and the foolish action of Jehoiakim the king 
in attempting to destroy them; Ezekiel’s call and com- 
mission, and his warning against false prophets and 
lying prophecies. 


* 


NINETEENTH SUNDAY AFTER TRINITY 


The Collect 
O Gop, forasmuch as without thee we are not able to 
please thee ; Mercifully grant, that thy Holy Spirit may in 
all things direct and rule our hearts; through Jesus Christ 
our Lord. Amen. 


There ’s a divinity that shapes our ends, 
Rough-hew them how we will.—SHAKESPEARE. 
Holy Spirit, faithful Guide, 
Ever near the Christian’s side, 
Ever present truest Friend, 
Ever near Thine aid to lend.—M. M. WELLs. 


NINETEENTH SUNDAY AFTER TRINITY 131 


HE light and leading of the Holy Spirit is the one 

theme to-day. It is voiced in the prayer that He 
may ‘direct and rule our hearts’, as from the central 
citadel, the Holy Spirit controlling the whole life. 

We confess, in the spirit of deepest humility, that in 
ourselves we are not able to please God, but we re- 
member the words of Christ, ‘ My grace is sufficient for 
thee.’ And we know that the Holy Spirit is willing to 
enable us for every duty in life. 

The Christian life is nearest its great ideal when it is 
most like Christ, walking by faith, and leaning only upon 
the power and wisdom of the Spirit of God. 

St. Paul thus prayed, ‘The Lord direct your hearts 
into the love of God, and into the patient waiting for 
Christ.’ The inspired petition of the Apostle, to the Lord 
the Spirit, that the hearts of men may be drawn into the 
love of the Father, and led into the patience of Christ, 
sums up all Christian need. There can be no higher 
prayer, for it covers all life. The Trinity of Love, and 
Light, and Power, God-blessed for ever, is asked to fulfil 
His holy purposes in our lives. ; 

The Holy Spirit is our Guide. He directs in His 
wisdom the believing soul. In the Old Testament 
artistic skill was especially ascribed to the Spirit, and 
His leading was constantly recognized. The Psalmist’s 
prayer was, ‘Let Thy loving Spirit lead me’. In the 
New Testament there is a direct and personal out- 
pouring of the Holy Spirit, according to Christ’s true 
promise. He is the direct Author of Faith, ‘ the Spirit 
of faith’; the Giver of Life ; the Strengthener of God’s 
people; the abiding Presence in the Christian’s life ; 
His constant Guide, and his unchanging Friend, and 
Counsellor. 

K 2 


£32 THE CHURCH YEAR 


The Holy Spirit directs and rules the heart by His 
personal influence exercised upon the life. He leads 
God’s sons (Rom. viii. 14). He teaches God’s people 
the deep things of God (x Cor. ii. 10). He directs the 
judgement, so that the true may be discerned from the 
false (I John ii. 27). He assists us in our need, ‘ Like- 
wise the Spirit also helpeth our infirmities’ (Rom. 
viii. 26). 

The leading of the Holy Spirit, in His directing and 
controlling power, depends upon our faith. We must 
put our whole trust in Christ, and surrender ourselves 
to Him, so that the Holy Spirit may ‘ direct and rule’ 
our hearts. This indeed is the thought of the Collect 
for the day, self-surrender to the whole will of God con- 
cerning us. 

The Epistle (Eph. iv. 17) contrasts the new life of the 
Spirit with the old life of the flesh, and is a clear call to 
Christians to walk in the Spirit. 

_ The Gospel (Matt. ix. 1) is the miracle of the healing of 
the man sick with the palsy, showing the ability of 
Christ to read the thoughts and discern the spirit, and 
His power not only to heal the sick, but to forgive sins. 

The Old Testament Lessons (Ezek.xiv., xviii, or xxiv. 15) 
are a warning against idolatry, an exhortation to repen- 
tance; a justification of God’s ways to men, and the 
parable of Ezekiel’s action in not mourning for his wife, 
a special sign given to Israel. 


te 


133 


TWENTIETH SUNDAY AFTER TRINITY 


The Collect 
O Atmicuty and most merciful God, of thy bountiful 
goodness keep us, we beseech thee, from all things that may 
hurt us; that we, being ready both in body and soul, may 
cheerfully accomplish those things that thou wouldest have 
done ; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen. 


What my soul was thy errand here ? 
Was it mirth or ease, 

Or heaping up dust from year to year ? 
Nay, none of these ! 

Speak soul aright in His holy sight, 
Whose eye looks still 

And steadily on thee through the night: 
To do His will! 


HE Christian should hold himself in constant 
readiness to do God’s will. He is a soldier en- 
gaged in a great campaign, and he needs to be prepared 
for the warfare in which his life is to be spent. Heis not 
called upon to provide armament, to build barracks, to 
prepare food and clothing, to pay for fortifications, and 
to arrange for shelter. In the affairs of this life, this 
is the work of the government. The King provides 
for his soldiers. And the soldier of the Cross finds that 
the great Captain of his salvation has made abundant 
provision for his every need ; he has but to use the armour 
of the soul, the weapons of the spiritual warfare, and to 
fight the good fight of faith, cheerfully obeying the 
commands of Christ. 
The Christian is bought with a price, he has been 


134 THE CHURCH YEAR 


redeemed, and he is called upon to glorify God in his 
body, and in his spirit, which are God’s. So St. Paul 
calls upon the Roman converts to yield themselves unto 
God, and their members as weapons of righteousness unto 
God. But it is a willing enlistment under the banner 
of the King. There is no forced service. And it is the 
whole life, “body and soul.’ Ananias gave part of his 
goods, but not himself. The Macedonians first gave 
their own selves, and then their substance. And he 
who is ready, through grace, ‘ both in body and soul,’ 
yields his life, his all, his means, his time, his talents, his 
influence to God. 

The call to service comes from God Himself, ‘ Ye are 
bought with a price; therefore glorify God in your body, 
and in your spirit, which are God’s.’ And all that we 
do, for God and man, in the service of Christ, should be 
done, not of constraint, but willingly, con amore, a spirit 
for which we ask in the prayer, that we may ‘ cheerfully 
accomplish those things that Thou wouldest have done’. 
It is the willing mind, the ready heart, that leads us to 
run in the way of God’s commandments. ‘ Whatsoever 
ye do,’ said the apostle, ‘ do it heartily, as to the Lord.’ 

There is no work to which God calls us for which He 
does not provide the necessary grace, strength sufficient 
for the day, and His protecting love while we are engaged 
in it. When He calls to service, He enables for duty. 

The Epistle (Eph. v. 15-22) calls us to a careful 
Christian walk, in which we are to buy up the oppor- 
tunity, and seek to fulfil the will of Christ. For all this 
there are needed rich spiritual gifts, which God stands 
ready to provide, else the words would be without 
significance, “ Be filled with the Spirit.’ 

The Gospel (Matt. xxii, I-15) is the Parable of the 


TWENTIETH SUNDAY AFTER TRINITY 135 


Marriage of the King’s Son, which, while it magnifies the 
grace of God and shows us our rich privileges, contains 
a clear call to duty based upon responsibility. 

The Old Testament Lessons (Ezek. xxxiv.; xxxvii; or 
Dan. i.) are full of the thought of God’s keeping power, as 
the Shepherd of His people, as the Life-giver raising them 
up from death, as their protector in every fiery trial; at 
the same time, they speak with no uncertain voice of 
the believer’s duty, in the light of so great spiritual 
privilege, and in the service of so good a Master. 


& 


TWENTY-FIRST SUNDAY AFTER TRINITY 


The Collect 
GRANT, we beseech thee, merciful Lord, to thy faithful 
people pardon and peace, that they may be cleansed from 
all their sins, and serve thee with a quiet mind; through 
Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen. 


Wash with Thy Blood my sins! thereto incline 
More readily, the more my years require 
Help, and Forgiveness speedy and entire! 
MICHAEL ANGELO. 
For with a gentle courage she doth strive 
In thought and word and feeling so to live, 
As to make Earth next Heaven !—LoweELtL. 


HE blessings of God’s pardoning Grace, and of 

His rich gift of Peace, are sought to-day, so that 
in the power of that forgiveness, cleansed in the precious 
blood of Christ, His believing people may enter into that 
quietude of mind which is essential for the highest 
service, and is the secret of all true happiness. 


136 THE CHURCH YEAR 


The desire for Pardon is written on every heart. It 
is a universal instinct, as is witnessed everywhere by 
“the cry of human need for God’s sweet pity’. The 
consciousness of sin has laid its hand upon the human 
mind. The light of nature showed man his guilt. The 
voice of conscience has ever spoken clearly of the guilt, 
and given warning of the punishment of sin. Revelation 
has not only shown the attitude of God’s mind towards 
sin and the sinner, but it has also declared the way of 
forgiveness, summed up in St. Paul’s words in the 
synagogue at Antioch: ‘through this Man is preached 
unto you the forgiveness of sins.’ The first principle 
of Christianity is, that God has Himself provided through 
the vicarious and sacrificial death of His own Son Jesus 
Christ the method and means of pardon. God can thus 
be just, and yet the justifier of all that believe. The 
way of forgiveness is freely opened to all who in true 
penitent faith accept the salvation so graciously offered 
in Jesus Christ. The whole secret of pardon is in Jesus 
Christ, ‘in whom,’ as St. Paul declares, ‘we have re- 
demption through His blood, even the forgiveness of 
sins.’ 

The distinction has sometimes been made, that for- 
giveness refers to the feelings of the person concerned, 
while pardon has reference to the consequences which 
naturally follow. But with God forgiveness and pardon 
walk hand in hand. When He forgives He restores the 
sinner to the Divine favour, and he remits the punishment 
due to his sin. 

The ‘ sweetness of pardon’. How great it is ? Charles 
Wesley, when he entered into its fullness, said to the 
good Moravian, Peter Bohler, “I suppose I had better keep 
silent about it.’ ‘Ohno,’ said the devout Moravian, 


TWENTY-FIRST SUNDAY AFTER TRINITY 137 


‘if you had a thousand tongues, you should use them 
all for Jesus.’ This became the aspiration of his heart, 
the master-passion of his life, and was well voiced in his 
splendid hymn : 


Oh for a thousand tongues to sing 
My great Redeemer’s praise. 


But God gives more than Pardon. He sheds abroad 
through His Holy Spirit in the forgiven soul His own 
sweet Peace. ‘Therefore, being justified by faith, we have 
Peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.’ The 
sin of our lives, the great mass of it, the hideous cata- 
logue of evil, has all been cleansed, written off, made as 
nothing, in the great act of pardoning love by which 
God in His grace received us, forgave us freely, and 
imputed to us the spotless righteousness of Christ. 

Christ is our Peace. ‘He is our Peace.’ ‘The fruit 
of the Spirit .. . is Peace.’ It is.the special bequest of 
Christ to His believing people, ‘My Peace I give unto 
you.’ It belongs to the Christian. Once justified it is 
his by inherent right. There are many Christians who 
confess with sadness that they have no real and lasting 
peace. If so, they are not living up to their privileges. 
There is somewhere a root of unbelief. Or perhaps they 
have an altogether false conception of peace, and expect 
to be relieved from the active warfare of the Christian 
life. The Peace, it is to be remembered, is the Peace of 
Christ, it is Peace with God. 

In the light of that Divine Pardon, with God’s sweet 
Peace within, we are to live and Serve. This is the 
Christian’s high privilege, and his clear duty. For to 
every Christian a talent is given, and a service marked 
out. This thought is constantly kept before our minds 


138 THE CHURCH YEAR 


in the petition of the Communion Office: ‘We most 
humbly beseech Thee, O heavenly Father, so to assist 
us with Thy grace, that we may continue in that holy 
fellowship, and do all such good works as Thou hast 
prepared for us to walk in.’ 

The Epistle (Eph. vi. 10) is the Christian’s Armoury, 
God’s wonderful provision for the Christian in the 
warfare of life. 

The Gospel (John iv. 46) tells the story of the healing 
of the nobleman’s son, and the great faith shown by 
the father of the lad. 

The Old Testament Lessons, for both morning and 
evening, are from the Book of the prophet Daniel (iii., 
iv., and v.), and show forth God’s dealings with His 
people in their captivity, the true faith and constancy 
of His children in the midst of the great heathen world- 
powers of the time. 


TWENTY-SECOND SUNDAY AFTER TRINITY 
The Collect 


Lorp, we beseech thee to keep thy household the Church 
in continual godliness; that through thy protection it 
may be free from all adversities, and devoutly given to 
serve thee in good works, to the glory of thy Name ; through 
Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen. 


Christ’s faith makes but one Body of all souls.—CRASHAW. 
Yea, very vain 
The greatest speed of all these souls of men !— 
Unless they travel upward to the Throne 
Where sittest Thou, the satisfying One, 
With help for sins, and holy perfectings 
For all requirements.—E. B. BRowNING. 


~~ = 


TWENTY-SECOND SUNDAY AFTER TRINITY 139 


Set on fire our heart’s devotion 
With the love of Thy dear name ; 
Till o’er every land and ocean 
Lips and lives Thy cross proclaim. 
SARAH G, STOCK. 


HE prayers of God’s people ascend to-day for the 

Church of Christ. It is the Household of God, 

and needs His constant care and guidance. We seek 

then, that it should be kept in ‘ continual godliness ’, 

that it should ever wear a character and display a life 
which is like that of the Father Himself. 

We confess in the Creeds that we believe in the Holy 
Catholic Church. And we know that Christ loved the 
Church, and gave Himself for it, purifying it by the 
washing of water by the Word, that He might present it 
to Himself, a glorious Church, not having spot or wrinkle 
or any such thing. The Church is called to a life of 
holiness : ‘God hath called us with an holy calling,’ 
and is animated by the Holy Spirit, by Whose indwelling 
power the life of the Church is sustained and extended. 

The Church of God has ever been called upon to face 
the hot fires of persecution and opposition. She has 
shown again and again that God was with her, as she 
held forth the torch of truth in the darkness of the 
world, that Christ was her life, as she rose from conflict 
which threatened to bring about her destruction if 
not her death. 

The Church exists for the glory of God. Its supreme 
purpose is that it may be devoutly given to serve Him 
in good works. Its work is missionary; it is sent to 
spread abroad the truth of Christ. Its good works are 
works of love and mercy, the carrying of the light of 


140 THE CHURCH YEAR 


the Gospel, and its healing power to the darkened and 
sin-sick souls of men. . 

It is only as a missionary Church, with a world-wide 
outlook, for ‘the Field is the World’, that the Church 
can ever fulfil her high destiny. But as such she is 
irresistible. When the Church ceases to be missionary, 
she ceases to be a true Church; even when she falters in 
her work she loses power. But with her mission before 
her mind, and with an honest effort to fulfil it, every 
barrier must give way. For who can withstand the 
Power of God ? or who can hinder the Spirit of the Lord ? 

If the Church of Christ would only live in the spirit of 
the Collect for the day, her path would be a bright and 
shining one. It is the spirit of those who rely not upon 
man, nor upon material things, but on the grace of 
Christ, and the keeping power of God. There can be 
no such thing as failure, when the Church lifts up her 
heart in prayer, that she may be kept ‘in continual 
godliness ’, relies entirely upon the Divine protection, 
and seeks to serve in good works. 

The Epistle (Phil. i. 3) is St. Paul’s prayer for his 
Philippian converts, that they may enjoy an abounding © 
love, that they may live in all sincerity of life, and be 
filled with the fruits of righteousness. 

The Gospel (Matt. xviii. 21) is Christ’s answer to 
St. Peter’s question in regard to forgiveness, stating the 
debt of the forgiven, and the spirit in which he should 
live—forgiven much, he should love much; and he 
should ever show the same spirit of forgiving love : 

We do pray for mercy; 
And that same prayer doth teach us all to render 
The deeds of mercy. 
The Old Testament Lessons (Dan. vi., vii. 9, or xii.) 


: “a 


TWENTY-SECOND SUNDAY AFTER TRINITY 141 


tell the story of Daniel’s rise, service, and prophetic 
utterances, as he foretold the advent of Messiah, and 
God’s purposes concerning His people throughout the 
ages. 


He 


TWENTY-THIRD SUNDAY AFTER TRINITY 


The Collect 


O Gop, our refuge and strength, who art the author of 
all godliness; Be ready, we beseech thee, to hear the 
devout prayers of thy Church; and grant that those things 
which we ask faithfully we may obtain effectually ; through 
Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen. 


To prayer, repentance, and obedience due, 
Though but endeavour’d with sincere intent, 
Mine ear shall not be slow, mine eye not shut. 
MILTON. 
Thy prayer shall be fulfilled; but how ? 
His thoughts are not as thine.—F. R. HAVERGAL. 


Grant us to keep at least a prompt desire, 
Continual readiness for Prayer and Praise— 
An altar heaped and waiting to take fire 


With the least spark, and leap into a blaze. 
App. TRENCH. 


HE Christian is taught to live a life of perfect 

trust in God, who is ‘our refuge and strength’. 
He is to look up to the All-Father, who is the source and 
secret of all good, ‘the author of all godliness,’ who has 
given up His son Jesus Christ, to be ‘the author and 
finisher of our faith’. And He has graciously promised 
us that the prayer of faith shall be effectual. 


142 THE CHURCH YEAR 


Prayer of every kind, whether it be individual or 
social, if it is indeed to be effectual, must ever rest 
upon the promises of God. 

There is first the great promise of the Lord Jesus, 
that ‘Where two or three are gathered together in My 
name, there am I in the midst of them.’ 

What encouragement could possibly be greater than 
this ? What greater incentive could be offered to 
Christian people to love the assembling of God’s people 
in His house of prayer ? What a complete answer the 
words offer to those who so constantly say that they 
can get as much good at home, or in the quiet of the 
woods, or by the lake-side, or on the shores of the sea, 
as at Church ! 

It is this great promise of the Christ which gives to 
the services of the Church their chief importance, which 
indicates the spiritual value of every meeting in the name 
of Christ, whether it be for missionary expansion, the 
study of the Bible, or for prayer and praise. Christ is 
there, He is in the midst of His worshipping people. 
It is related of a good woman, who once declared that 
she would be present at a certain service for prayer, if 
she were the only one who should come, when some 
one asked her in jest, afterwards, having heard that she 
was the only one at the service, ‘How many were present?’ 
that she replied, ‘Four.’ ‘ Why !’ said he, “I heard that 
you were there all alone.’ ‘No,’ she said ; ‘I was the 
only one visible, but the Father was theze, and the Son 
was there, and the Holy Ghost was there, and we were 
all agreed in prayer.’ 

And connected with the promised presence of Christ 
in the midst of His worshipping people, there is this 
distinct promise as well: ‘ That if two of you shall agree 


TWENTY-THIRD SUNDAY AFTER TRINITY 143 


on earth”as touching any thing that they shall ask, it 
shall be done for them of My Father which is in heaven.’ 

What a power, Christ declares, resides in the union of 
Christian hearts! The loving Saviour even condescends 
to make the number joined in the bonds of unity, two, 
the lowest possible. The ideal of the Church is a unity 
of hearts in full spiritual agreement, ‘ gathered together ’ 
in Christ’s name, uniting in definite prayer to God. Such 
prayer is effectual. It carries with it the promise of 
Christ of a sure and certain answer. 

Effectual prayer is bound up with the sure promise of 
Christ, and the faith of believing souls. There is perhaps 
nothing concerning which Jesus Christ spoke in terms 
of such absolute ceitainty as that of prayer. ‘ Ask and 
ye shall receive, seek and ye shall find, knock and it 
shall be opened unto you.’ The answer is bound up 
with His own clear engagement to fulfil His promises. 
‘I myself will do it’ (John xiv. 14). Godet thus para- 
phrases the words of the Lord Jesus: ‘I, who have 
never deceived you, who shall be reinvested with omni- 
potence, and be with the Father, myself engage to do it.’ 

The New Testament record itself contains the best 
commentary on the power of united prayer. It is 
seen in that contest of the world power with the Church 
of God. Peter had been cast into prison, and all the 
strength of the Roman empire was arrayed against 
him. He was placed by Herod under the guard of four 
quaternions of soldiers, there were keepers immediately 
before the door, and Peter himself slept between two 
soldiers, bound with two chains. But on the other side 
there was the power of prayer. ‘ Prayer,’ instant and 
earnest prayer, as the marginal reading runs, ‘ was made 
without ceasing of the Church unto God.’ And God 


144 THE CHURCH YEAR 


delivered Peter from the hand of his enemies. The 
prayer was effectual. 

The Epistle (Phil. iii. 17) is St. Paul’s high call to 
heavenly citizenship, coupled with the promise of the 
full redemption of the body at Christ’s second advent. 

The Gospel (Matt. xxii. 15) is Christ’s clear teaching 
as to the duties of citizenship, the rendering to Caesar 
the things that are Caesar’s, and unto God the things 
that are God’s. 

The Old Testament Lessons (Hos. xiv; Joel ii. 21; or 
iii. 9) are: the call of Hosea to repentance, which 
carried with it, on amendment, a promise of God’s bles- 
sing ; the prophecy of Joel of God’s judgements against 
His enemies, and of His rich blessings in store for His 
Church. 


ie 


TWENTY-FOURTH SUNDAY AFTER TRINITY 


The Collect 


O LorD, we beseech thee, absolve thy people from their 
offences; that through thy bountiful goodness we may 
all be delivered from the bands of those sins, which by our 
frailty we have committed: Grant this, O heavenly Father, 
for Jesus Christ’s sake, our blessed Lord and Saviour. 
Amen. 


Then, tho’ our foul and limitless transgression 
Grows with our growing, with our breath began, 
Raise Thou the arms of endless Intercession, 
Jesus! divinest when Thou most art Man! 

F. H. W. Myers. 


TWENTY-FOURTH SUNDAY AFTER TRINITY 145 


Return, my son, 
To thy Redeemer.—Died He not in love >— 
The sinless, the divine, the Son of God,— 
Breathing Forgiveness ’midst all agonies.—F. HEMANs. 


The Crown of Thorns, Hands pierced upon the tree, 
The meek, benign, and lacerated Face, 
To a sincere repentance promise grace, 
To the sad soul give hope of pardon free. 
MICHAEL ANGELO. 


HE leading thought to-day is that of Absolution, 

the Remission of sins. We ask God to absolve 
His people from their offences, that is, to free them from 
sin, its power and punishment. 

“The absolving power is the central secret of the 
Gospel,’ so wrote F. W. Robertson. For the Gospel is 
a message of full and free and perfect forgiveness in 
Jesus Christ. It is a word of help and hope to a world 
of sinners, lost and ruined by the Fall. The forgiveness 
of sins is preached in His Name, ‘and through His Name 
whosoever believeth in Him shall receive remission of 
sins.’ And this is the promise of the new Covenant, 
‘ Their sins and their iniquities will I remember no more.’ 

This is no less than the foundation principle of Chris- 
tianity. It is a pure Gospel truth, which is nowhere 
elsefound. It discovers to us the pathway of communion 
with God now, and points forward in the spirit of joyful 
expectancy to eternal enjoyment of God’s love hereafter. 

The way of forgiveness is through faith in Jesus 
Christ. It is an open way to all, the offer of forgiveness 
being universal in application, and only bounded by 
the willingness to believe: ‘ Whosoever believeth in 
Him,’ 

L 


146 THE CHURCH YEAR 


The seal of forgiveness is God’s own Word. The heart 
rests upon His promise. It has the supreme assurance 
of faith. . 

The Gospel of Christ is never so faithfully, so fully, 
so effectually preached as in ‘ The Absolution, or Remis- 
sion of Sins,’ pronounced at the close of the General 
Confession, ‘said of the whole Congregation after the 
Minister,’ at Morning and Evening Prayer in the Church 
of England, wherever her scriptural service is used. 
As John Wesley used to say, ‘whatever may be said in 
the pulpit, there is the finest of wheat at the Prayer 
Desk.’ 

The declaration is then made of the terms of Gospel 
forgiveness, on the part of a loving Father, ‘who desireth 
not the death of a sinner, but rather that he may turn 
from his wickedness and live.’ ‘He pardoneth and 
absolveth all them that truly repent, and unfeignedly 
believe His holy Gospel.’ And then humble prayer is 
offered, that God may grant us ‘true repentance, and 
His Holy Spirit ’. 

Thus the forgiveness of sins and the renewing power 
of the Holy Spirit are offered ‘ without money and with- 
out price’. The ‘ambassadors for Christ’ declare on the 
sacred and solemn authority of Almighty God Himself, 
and in the Name of Christ, that every truly penitent and 
believing soul receives the perfect pardon of God. The 
judicious Hooker has most beautifully summed up the 
richness of the blessing: ‘His purpose is never to call’ 
sin ‘to account, or to lay it to men’s charge; the stain He 
washeth out by the sanctifying grace of His Spit.’ 

The Epistle (Col. i. 3) is St. Paul’s thanksgiving for 
his Colossian converts, for the grace given to them, and 
for the faith which had led them to use it in their Chris-. 


TWENTY-FOURTH SUNDAY AFTER TRINITY 147 


tian experience; and his prayer that they may walk 
worthy of their Christian vocation. 

The Gospel (Matt. ix. 18) is the account of the two 
miracles of the Lord Jesus :—the healing of the woman 
with the issue of blood, and the raising of Jairus’s 
daughter, both closely connected with prayer, based on 
faith. 

The Old Testament Lessons (Amos iii, v, or ix) are 
prophecies of God’s judgements against Israel, calls to 
repentance, warnings against hypocrisy, and a rich 
promise of restoration to the Divine favour. 


% 


TWENTY-FIFTH SUNDAY AFTER TRINITY 


The Collect 
STIR up, we beseech thee, O Lord, the wills of thy faithful 
people ; that they, plenteously bringing forth the fruit of 
good works, may of thee be plenteously rewarded ; through 
Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen. 


Only add 
Deeds to thy knowledge answerable; add faith, 
Add virtue, patience, temperance; add love. 
MILTON. 


Not words alone it cost the Lord, 
To purchase pardon for His own; 

Nor will a soul by grace restored 
Return the Saviour words alone. 


With golden bells, the priestly vest, 
And rich pomegranates bordered round,— 
The need of Holiness expressed, 
And called for fruit as well as sound. 
WILLIAM CowWPER, 


L2 


148 THE CHURCH YEAR 


HE Collect, Epistle, and Gospel for this Sunday. are 

always used the Sunday next before Advent. When 
there are more: Sundays between Trinity Sunday and 
Advent, the services of some of those Sundays which were 
omitted after the Epiphany are taken to supply any that 
may be wanting. The Twenty-fifth Sunday after Trinity 
is known as ‘ Awakening’ Sunday on account of its 
proximity to Advent. It is also familiarly known as 
“Stir Up’ Sunday, and there are certain local customs 
associated with Christmas connected with it. The 
Collect breathes the very spirit of awakening: ‘ Wake, 
brethren, wake,’ the coming of the Lord draweth 
nigh. 

The Church of Christ is God’s great spiritual work- 
shop in the world of men. And Christians within the 
Church are called upon to stir each other up to love and 
good works. This is true religion, the ritual of the 
Christian life. This is practical Christianity. 

There are many exhortations in the New Testament 
to Christians to maintain good works. But none to 
unbelievers, none to those who have not accepted Christ 
as their Saviour and Master. There is not a word to 
indicate that the sinner can gain salvation by works, 
while there is much to the contrary. But ‘This is 
a faithful saying, . .. that they which have believed in 
God might be careful to maintain good works.’ So 
St. Paul most clearly taught. 

We seek from God the necessary grace to serve Him, 
‘in such good works as He has prepared for us to walk 
in.’ We are to ‘ work out our own salvation ’, but it is 
God who worketh in us‘ both to will and todo’. Our 
hearts are naturally cold, our wills are weak, our pur- 
poses infirm; we need the all-powerful breath of the 


TWENTY-FIFTH SUNDAY AFTER TRINITY 149 


Spirit of God to warm our being, to move us to good, to 
help us to serve. 

The Fruit of Good Works—the very term is suggestive. 
They are living works, there must be life for fruit. They 
are the fruits of righteousness, which are by Jesus Christ 
to the glory of God. They are the fruit of faith. As 
Selden so beautifully said, ‘ As the flower is before the 
fruit, so is faith before good works; so neither is the 
fruit before the flower, nor good works without faith.’ 

Truly there is a reward for the righteous. ‘God is 
not unrighteous to forget your work and labour of love.’ 
While salvation is all of grace, and good works have no 
merit in themselves, God is a plenteous rewarder of His 
people. Even a cup of cold water in the name of a 
disciple is not without its reward. The service of 
Christ has its own blessing here upon earth, and its 
exceeding great recompense in the world to come. We 
may not see the result here, we may appear to lose it 
altogether, but the reward is sure, even as Calvin felt when 
he thought of his banishment from ungrateful Geneva : 
“Most assuredly if I had but served man, this would 
have been a poor recompense ; but it is my happiness 
that I have served Him who never fails to reward His 
servants to the full extent of His promise.’ 

The portion of Scripture appointed for the Epistle is 
taken from Jeremiah xviil. 5. It isa wonderful prophecy 
of the Coming of Christ, seen in His Royalty, springing 
from David’s stock, and yet ‘the Lord our Righteous- 
ness ’. 

The Gospel is from St. John vi. 5, the miracle of the 
feeding of the five thousand, with its great lesson of 
Christ’s almighty power, His gracious sympathy, His 
heart of love. 


150 THE CHURCH YEAR 


The Old Testament Lessons for the Sunday before 
Advent are Eccles. xi and xii, Haggai ii to ver. Io, 
Malachi iii and iv, in the first the Preacher sums up the 
conclusion of the whole matter, and, turning from the 
vanity of life, points to God, the chief good, in whose 
commandments all duty centres. Then we are pointed 
to the Coming of Christ, the last prophets of the old 
covenant closing with the gracious promises of the rising 
of the Sun of Righteousness, Malachi especially, like one 


Whose spirit-sharpened sight 
Foreknows the advent of the light. 


+ 


ST. ANDREW’S DAY 
NOVEMBER 30 


The Collect 

ALMmIGHTy God, who didst give such grace unto thy holy 
Apostle Saint Andrew, that he readily obeyed the calling 
of thy Son Jesus Christ, and followed him without delay ; 
Grant unto us all, that we, being called by thy holy Word, 
may forthwith give up ourselves obediently to fulfil thy 
holy commandments ; through the same Jesus Christ our 
Lord. Amen. 


Whilst Andrew, as a fisher, sought 
From pinching want his life to free, 
Christ called him, that he might be taught 
A fisherman of men to be. 
And no delay therein he made, 
Nor questionéd his Lord’s intent ; 
But quite forsaking all he had, 
With him that called gladly went. 
GEORGE WITHERS. 


ST. ANDREW’S DAY I5I 


T. ANDREW bears a beautiful and most sug- 
gestive name. It is Greek in its origin, Andreas, 
manliness, the characteristic of a true man, manly spirit. 
It covers all the traits and qualities which become 
aman. This was in the mind of our immortal Shake- 
speare when he put into the mouth of Mark Antony, in 
praise of Brutus, the memorable words : 


The elements 
So mixed in him that Nature might stand up 
And say to all the world, This was a man. 


St. Andrew has long been made the patron saint of 
Scotland. It has often been wondered why St. Andrew 
vas chosen, as he had no possible connexion with Scot- 
land. Was it that this wise people, who well know the 
worth of a man, saw the man behind the saint, as the 
words of their own Burns would suggest ? 
The rank is but the guinea-stamp, 
The man’s the gowd for a’ that. 


Russia has always honoured his name with peculiar 
honour, and has linked it with all that is noblest in their 
chivalry. 
’ St. Andrew was the first missionary. It is eminently 
fitting, therefore, that the Church should choose as the Day 
of Intercession for Missions the eve of St. Andrew, or any 
day in the week in which the festival of St. Andrew falls. 
But best of all, most in keeping with his spirit and 
character, is the name given to the Brotherhood of Men 
in our beloved Church: the Brotherhood of St. Andrew, 
whose members endeavour to follow his example, when 
he led his brother to Christ. 

The Gospel narrative furnishes us with but few details 
of the person and life of St. Andrew. But brief as the 


152 THE CHURCH YEAR 


story is, it is full of human interest, and throws a flood of 
light upon his character. He was a fisherman, gathering 
daily, with Simon Peter, his more famous brother, the 
harvest of the sea, from the blue waters of the lake of 
Galilee. He was an early follower of John the Baptist, 
the soul of the man answering to the great call of that 
Herald of the coming Day, to cast off by repentance the 
works of darkness, and to watch for the dawn of the 
Kingdom of Light. 

Our first clear view of Andrew is at Bethabara, beyond 
Jordan, where John was baptizing. The note of time is 
not wanting, for it was the day following the Baptism 
of the Lord Jesus. The Baptist’s cry must have been 
startling to the two disciples who heard it, when as he* 
looked upon Jesus as He walked, he exclaimed, ‘ Behold 
the Lamb of God,’ thus bearing witness on two successive 
days to the person and work of the world’s Redeemer. 
How graphic is the Divine record: ‘They followed 
Jesus.’ It is a story of action, instant action. Andrew 
not only followed Jesus, but he sought his brother Simon 
straightway, bore faithful witness to the Christ, and 
‘brought him to Jesus’. 

The results of that one act are only known to God, 
who alone can number the blessings that brother brought 
to the world, as a witness to Christ, and a preacher of 
the Gospel of the grace of God. 

We see Andrew again when the difficulty arose in 
regard to satisfying the hunger of the multitude. A 
touch of faith seemed to mingle with his unbelief. 
For when Jesus asked, ‘Whence shall we buy bread 
that these may eat?’ he replied, ‘There is a lad 
here that hath five barley loaves and two small 
fishes, but what are they among so many?’ But 


ST. ANDREW’S DAY 153 


with those loaves and small fishes the vast multitude 
was fed. 

Andrew appears for the third time when the Greeks 
came up to the feast with the longing in their hearts, 
‘We would see Jesus.’ Philip, cautious and careful as 
he evidently was, laid the case before Andrew. But with 
Andrew there is no hesitation, he shows his character in 
an instant—‘ the Introductor,’ as the Venerable Bede 
loved to call him—straight to the Master himself he 
goes. ‘ Andrew and Philip tell Jesus.’ 

Andrew teaches us many useful lessons. The great 
Bishop Ryle of Liverpool declared that it would be well 
for the Church of Christ if all believers were more like 
Andrew. And the mighty Calvin pronounced a woe upon 
us for our indolence if we do not endeavour, like Andrew, 
to make others partakers of the same grace after we have 
received enlightenment ourselves. 

Andrew furnishes us with a lesson in Decision. He 
took at once the decisive step of following Jesus. He 
heard John speak, as he bore his testimony to Christ. 
Andrew ‘ followed Jesus ’. 

Andrew has been called the first home missionary. 
He was certainly so in a most literal and emphatic sense. 
He first findeth his own brother. He brought him to Jesus. 
There is no room in such matters of eternal moment 
for reticence or reserve. It is not a time for argument, 
but for witness-bearing : ‘ We have found the Messias.’ 

Andrew teaches us how to use our opportunities. He 
did not wait until he was ordained an apostle, he began 
at once. And he began where the work is hardest—in 
his own home, and with bis own brother. He did not sigh 
for other fields to conquer, he reaped in the one where 
the gate opened to his hand. 


154 THE CHURCH YEAR 


Andrew well illustrates a truth often noticed, that the 
world does not know its greatest benefactors. Nor 
indeed does the Church for that matter. Peter far out- 
shines his brother. The place of dignity and the name of 
highest renown has been allotted, as Cardinal Newman 
points out, to Peter, and yet, as Newman goes on to 
remark, Andrew was the means of bringing him to the 
knowledge of his Saviour. If there is priority in the 
Church, it belongs to Andrew. And, humanly speaking, 
Peter might have remained a humble fisherman of 
Galilee all his days if Andrew had not broken down that 
fence of reserve about spiritual things which encloses us 
all, and told his brother of the Christ. 

Andrew proved the hold that his principles had upon 
his life, by the best evidence that man can give: he 
died for them. The uniform tradition is that he died 
a blessed martyr for Christ and His truth. It is said 
that he was crucified on an X-shaped cross—a crux 
decussata. It meant the acme of cruelty, the highest 
measure of pain. In his death, as in his life, he led men 
to Christ, showing his love for his Master, for whom he 
gladly suffered all things. 

Andrew lived up to his great name, Andreas: manly. 
And this is our greatest need to-day. The world wants 
men ; the Church needs true men; and we may reverently 
say, God wants manly men. This is universally recognized. 
But it is sometimes forgotten that the highest manliness 
is only found in following Christ. This supreme need 
will never be met until, in the spirit of the poet Holland, 
we seek such men from God Himself. He alone can give 
us men fashioned after the pattern of Jesus Christ : 
God! Give us men! A time like this demands 
Strong minds, great hearts, true faith, and ready hands. 


ae 


ST. ANDREW’S DAY 155 


And Bishop Bickersteth voiced the same great need : 

Give us men... 

Not angelic, nobly human, 

Very men of flesh and blood, 

Yet of heaven’s own brotherhood, 
Men of God; 

Give us men, I say again, 
Give us men. 


te 


ST. THOMAS THE APOSTLE 
DECEMBER 21 


The Collect 

ALMIGHTY and everliving God, who for the more con- 
firmation of the faith didst suffer thy holy Apostle Thomas 
to be doubtful in thy Son’s resurrection; Grant us so 
perfectly, and without all doubt, to believe in thy Son 
Jesus Christ, that our faith in thy sight may never be 
reproved. Hear us, O Lord, through the same Jesus Christ, 
to whom, with thee and the Holy Ghost, be all honour and 
glory, now and for evermore. Amen. 


He saw Thee risen; at once he rose 
To full belief’s unclouded height ; 
And still through his confession flows 
To Christian souls Thy life and light. 
CANON BRIGHT. 


HERE are few characters in Scripture who 

furnish more instruction to the devout student, 
than that of Thomas. He passed from darkness unto 
light, in more senses than one. It takes but little 
imagination to see him climb, as by steps of a ladder, 
from doubt, and mistrust, and incredulity, up to light 
and faith that should never afterwards know eclipse. 


156 THE CHURCH YEAR 


He is no longer ‘ doubting Thomas’ to the Church of 
God, but a great spiritual hero, a man of faith. And 
it is faith that we all want, faith that saves, faith that 
animates, faith that aspires, faith that nerves the soul, 
faith that clings, faith that believes, faith that overcomes, 
faith that triumphs. It is the men of faith that are the 
men of purpose, the men of action, the men of power. 
It is doubt that darkens the pathway of life, that drags 
us down to lower levels, that paralyses the arm of action, 
that causes us to miss our opportunities, that everywhere 
destroys instead of building up. 

The different appearances of our Lord Jesus Christ 
after His resurrection from the dead are all deeply 
significant. He showed Himself alive after His passion 
to many different persons, on many different occasions, 
and in many different places. One of the most interesting 
and instructive was to His disciples when Thomas was 
with them, eight days after His resurrection. On the first 
glad Easter Day Jesus had not left His chosen followers in 
suspense, but in the evening of that day appeared to His 
disciples, who were gathered with close-barred doors for 
fear of the Jews. ‘Jesus came andstood in the midst, and 
saith unto them, Peace be unto you. And when He had 
so said He showed unto them His hands and His side.’ 

But Thomas was not with them when Jesus came. 
His absence has been traced to unbelief. It seemed to 
one who had seen Jesus captured by the soldiers, who 
had viewed from afar Jesus nailed to the cruel cross, who 
had witnessed His burial in the rock-sealed tomb, who 
had watched the Roman guard as they stood sentinels 
around the grave, a sort of madness to believe that the 
helpless victim who had perished at the hands of His 
enemies was alive again. The frail bark of his life had 


ST. THOMAS THE APOSTLE 157 


set out upon the smiling sea of the early popularity of 
Jesus, but, when it encountered the fierce storm of 
enmity, hatred, and opposition which fell upon his great 
Master, the ship, freighted with such glorious hopes, 
driven against the rock of Calvary, was wrecked and had 
almost gone to pieces. Or perhaps his natural tempera- 
ment had led him to despondency, and even as Southey 
long afterwards said, as he faced a great calamity which 
had broken the very heart-strings of his life : ‘ I will not 
be taken in again ; I will not love any more.’ 

But, whatever the cause, the absence of Thomas is 
fruitful in lessons for us. He stands in God’s Word as an 
example and a warning of the spiritual loss sustained by 
those who absent themselves from the assembly of God’s 
people. His separation from his fellow disciples added to 
his gloomy fears, and fear led him to the regions of doubt, 
which borders close upon unbelief. While his brethren 
were rejoicing in the light of resurrection truth his mind 
was in a state of suspense, if not, indeed, of despair. 

He lost, too, the blessing of peace which Jesus had 
given, and retained instead the misery of doubt. He 
lost as well the sympathy and fellowship of believing 
hearts ; and, greatest of all, he was left from Easter to 
Pentecost without the great gift of the Holy Spirit, when 
Jesus breathed on them and said, ‘ Receive ye the Holy 
Ghost.’ Thomas, through his despondency and doubt, was 
the last of the apostles to see and hear the risen Lord. 

The character of Thomas is one of the most many-sided 
recorded in Scripture. He was called Didymus, which 
is the Greek for ‘twin’, and that name gives a faithful 
description of the man himself. He possessed a sort of 
double nature. There were elements in his character, as 
with many a man, which were contradictory and would 


158 THE CHURCH YEAR 


not blend. He was naturally affectionate, his heart 
easily moved, rich in strong and yet tender love, but 
yet afraid to venture his all. He was ambitious, and 
yet given to fits of hopelessness. His faith in Christ and 
His mission was strong, but yet swept by winds of doubt 
and fears of delusion. 

Thomas was of a melancholy temperament. He was 
subject to great depression of spirits. No doubt there 
were physical causes, and there are many examples in 
religious history (notably Melanchthon and Cowper) of 
men who have been at times depressed and cast down 
to a degree which made life almost unendurable. 

Thomas was slow in judgement. He did not possess 
that quickness of intellectual perception which sees 
the heart of a matter in a glance, and reaches a conclusion 
in a single leap. 

The apostle possessed a critical mind. There are none 
of the apostles so near to the modern spirit, or who had 
so much in common with the tendencies of the times in 
which we live. He was as impatient of the opinions of 
others as any thinker of the nineteenth century, and just 
as ready to appeal to the evidence of the senses. This 
habit of mind furnishes a strong argument for the credi- 
bility of the Gospel narrative. It shows that there was 
no collusion amongst the apostles, that they were not 
credulous men, easily imposed upon and deceived. 
Thomas was extremely cautious in forming his opinions. 
They were not formed hastily. He was sceptical in the 
best sense. The root idea of sceptical is to examine 
closely or critically. There is the thought in it of covering 
or shading the eyes in order to make a close scrutiny of 
an object, looking at it narrowly and intently, anxious 
not to be deceived in it. 


ST. THOMAS THE APOSTLE 159 


He was a brave and courageous man. He was willing 
to face death when he thought that his Master was in 
danger. And this fact is not without its influence as a 
proof of the resurrection. He would have stood out 
against all the apostles unless absolutely convinced of the 
resurrection of Jesus as an objective fact. 

Above all Thomas was a lover of truth, ready to follow 
it to its utmost conclusions. When his judgement was 
convinced, he was most sincere in his acceptance of the 
truth. 

The doubt of Thomas was most decided in character. 
He would give no credence to the story of the resurrection 
unless it came within his own personal experience. 
“Except I shall see in His hands the print of the nails, 
and put my finger into the print of the nails, and thrust 
my hand into His side, I will not believe.’ He thought 
more of the sense of touch through his ten fingers than 
of the witness of his ten fellow disciples who had seen 
Jesus and had conversed with Him. 

The unbelief of Thomas was intellectual rather than 
moral. He had no wish to doubt. His was not the 
unbelief which loves darkness because of evil deeds, 
or of a creed shaped a selfish desire rather than by 
a love of truth. 

The apostle’s unbelief was open to conviction. His 
prayer, like that of Ajax, was for light. His face was 
towards the light. He was not hostile nor indifferent. 
He was ready to believe on sufficient evidence. It may 
be that there was an element of faith in his unbelief, 
that he thought perhaps that Christ had risen in some 
sort of spiritual way, but that he refused to believe 
that it was with the same body that was crucified upon 
the cross. 


160 THE CHURCH YEAR 


God will not force belief, our faith must be spontaneous 
and real. What He desires is the child-like trust of 
children in a father’s love. And so Jesus Christ, in a 
spirit of marvellous condescension, appeared to Thomas 
and offered the very proof that he sought. He showed 
to him His wound-prints, which were at once seals of 
His death, and marks by which His sacred person could 
be identified. 

“Reach hither thy finger, and behold My hands; and 
reach hither thy hand, and thrust it into My side: and 
be not faithless, but believing.’ 

Then the faith of Thomas was seen. It was more 
than conviction, it was the highest kind of faith. Two 
conclusions took possession of his mind. The presence 
of Christ was a proof of His resurrection life ; the words 
of Christ showed that his inmost thoughts were known 
and pointed to Christ’s divinity. Andso Thomas rose on 
the wings of faith to the great confession, ‘My Lord and 
my God.’ He made a personal appropriation of Christ 
to the needs of his own soul. 

Christ allowed Thomas to address Him as God without 
reproof or prohibition. This is an indirect proof of His 
divinity, which is made the stronger by the action of 
Peter when Cornelius was ready to worship him, but was 
prevented by the statement of the apostle that he was 
but human, and by the action of Paul and Barnabas when 
they stopped the men of Lystra from offering them 
sacrifice. 

The Christian’s hope rests on the divinity of Christ 
which Thomas confessed, and the resurrection truth 
which he received and held is without question the great 
basal principle on which the Christian Church is reared. 


161 


THE CONVERSION OF ST. PAUL 


JANUARY 25 


The Collect 


O Gop, who, through the preaching of the blessed 
Apostle Saint Paul, hast caused the light of the Gospel 
to shine throughout the world; Grant, we beseech thee, 
that we, having his wonderful conversion in remembrance, 
may shew forth our thankfulness unto thee for the same, 
by following the holy doctrine which he taught; through 
Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen. 


The precious Vessel of our Master’s choice, 
Our golden lamp of truth, the starry flame ] 
Whose radiant guidance through the depth of night 
E’en to its setting led us toward the port 
-And coasts of promised glory still unseen, 

Bisuop H. C. G. Moute. 


What nobler spoil was ever 
Cast at the Victor’s feet ? 
What wiser master-builder 
E’er wrought at Thine employ 
Than he, till now so furious 
Thy building to destroy ? 
JouHN ELLERTON. 
Yet not I, but Christ liveth in me. 
Gal. il. 20. 


T. PAUL the apostle was one of the greatest men 

that ever lived. It is not the language of exag- 

geration to say, that next to our Lord Jesus Christ, the 

God-Man, the world owes more to St. Paul in the way 

of spiritual teaching, than to any one who has ever 
M 


162 THE CHURCH YEAR 


lived. The humblest of men, the bond-slave of Jesus 
Christ, as he loved to call himself, he was greatest in 
service to our humanity. It is to him that Christianity 
owes, humanly speaking, its Creed, its world-wide 
expansion, its spirituality, its freedom, and its brother- 
liness. 

‘Imagine,’ says Adolphe Monod, ‘ the world without 
St. Paul: it would mean the detention of the Gospel, 
perhaps for centuries, on the borders of Asia. Imagine 
the Bible without St. Paul: it would mean Christian 
truth only half revealed, Christian life only half under- 
stood, Christian charity only half known, Christian faith 
only half victorious.’ 

The character of St. Paul is one of the most beautiful, 
if not indeed the noblest, in human history. He was 
richly endowed by nature, and highly trained by grace. 
In the human sphere he enjoyed all the advantages which 
could come from the largest measure of culture in his 
time : Roman citizenship, Grecian learning, and Hebrew 
religion. In the realm of the Spirit, his life was brought 
into complete subjection to the work of grace, in glad 
self-surrender to Christ, which can find no better expres- 
sion than his own words: ‘I am crucified with Christ : 
nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: 
and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the 
faith of the Son of God.’ 

The leading characteristics of the apostle have been 
so beautifully portrayed by the master hand of Meyer, 
the commentator, that he almost lives and moves before 
the eye. St. Paul is pictured amidst his apostolic work, 
as one who had developed ‘a force and play of spirit, 
a clearness, depth, and cogency of thought, a purity 
and firmness of purpose, an intensity of feeling, a holy 


THE CONVERSION OF ST. PAUL 163 


audacity of effort, a wisdom of deportment, a precision 
and delicacy of practical skill, a strength and liberty of 
faith, a fire and mastery of eloquence, a heroism in 
danger, a love, and self-forgetfulness, and patience, and 
humility, and altogether a sublime power and richness 
of endowment, which have secured for this chosen 
Implement of Christ the reverence and wonder of all 
time’. 

The Conversion of St. Paul was always indissolubly 
associated in the mind of the apostle with the Risen 
Christ. In St. Paul’s account of the resurrection, the 
longest and in every sense the most complete record in 
Scripture, he says, ‘ And last of all He was seen of me 
also.’ 

There are three accounts of St. Paul’s Conversion and 
of the appearance to him of the Risen Christ. One 
account is from the pen of St. Luke, the others St. Paul 
himself gives. Saul (to use his circumcision-name) 
was at the height of his career of persecution of the 
infant Church of Christ. He was on his way to Damascus, 
armed with authority from the high priest, and ready 
to bind, and imprison, and persecute even to the death, 
all that followed ‘the Way’ of Christ. At midday 
_ Christ appeared to him in a light exceeding far the 
brightness of the sun. The appearance of the heavenly 
Visitor caused the company to fall to the ground in 
terror, struck them dumb with amazement, and filled 
them with fear. Then it was that Saul heard the voice 
of the Son of God speaking to his inmost soul, and yet in 
the loved Hebrew tongue, bearing still the name, ‘ Jesus 
of Nazareth,’ the despised, rejected, mocked, and 
crucified Jesus, but now risen from the dead, and speaking 
from the realms of glory. 

M2 


164 THE CHURCH YEAR 


It was thus that Saul the persecutor was changed into 
Paul the apostle, by the vision and the call of the Christ. 
He was cast down in an instant from the height of self- 
righteousness to the depth of spiritual humility, as in 
- trembling words he said, ‘ Lord, what wilt Thou have me 
to do ?’ But what could he do now ? For, blind from 
the excessive light of the bright vision, he must be led 
by others. And this was symbolic of his spiritual state. 
For he had now discovered his weakness, he had heard 
the voice of Jesus say, ‘ Arise,’ he had in faith obeyed, 
and now he stood ready to serve. This was his con- 
version. 

The next step was the reception of the gift of the Holy 
Spirit. For three days in his blindness, without tasting 
food or drink, he sounded the depths of spiritual ex- 
perience, as he communed with God in prayer. Alone 
with God he evidently was, for the Christians were 
afraid of him, as the fiercest persecutor of the faith, and 
the Jews were now cut off from him by his action conse- 
quent upon the vision of Jesus. 

The Risen Christ still filling his mind’s eye, the Scrip- 
tures which foretold the sufferings and triumph of the 
Messiah now made clear, the words of Jesus still ringing 
in his ears, ‘Why persecutest thou Me ?’ the three days 
of godly sorrow and true repentance might have been 
three centuries to Saul, as God was preparing him for His 
indwelling power. 

Then Ananias, divinely led, sought him out, and 
‘ putting his hands on him, said, Brother Saul, the Lord, 
even Jesus, ... hath sent me, that thou mightest receive 
thy sight, and be filled with the Holy Ghost.’ And the 
divine record runs that he received sight forthwith, ane 
arose, and was baptized. oe 


THE CONVERSION OF ST. PAUL 165 


The Conversion of St. Paul is a most remarkable 
evidence of the supernatural character of Christianity. 

St. Paul ever declared that his call from God was 
direct, immediate, and personal. In the glorious light 
that he saw on the way to Damascus was the form of 
the crucified, but now risen and glorified Jesus, for in 
answer to his question, ‘Who art Thou ?’ came the 
reply, ‘I am Jesus.’ His commission as Apostle of the 
Gentiles was from Christ Himself: ‘I have appeared 
unto thee, to ordain thee a minister and a witness.’ 

St. Paul never for an instant doubted but that he had 
directly perceived the Risen Christ. ‘ Have I not seen 
Jesus Christ the Lord ?’ ‘ Last of all, He was seen of 
mealso.’ He claimed to be a witness of the resurrection, 
and to have received his call to the apostleship from the 
lips of Jesus Christ Himself. 

The Conversion of St. Paul has been ranked by an 
acute thinker as one of the three greatest events in the 
long history of the world. It is a turning-point in the 
history of mankind. It has profoundly influenced the 
thought and action of men ever since, and its power will 
not cease with time, but operate through all eternity. 
It was a true instinct, then, that led the Church to 
celebrate the beginning of St. Paul’s spiritual life and 
work, rather than his martyrdom. 


de 


166 THE CHURCH YEAR 


THE PRESENTATION OF CHRIST IN THE TEMPLE 
COMMONLY CALLED 
THE PURIFICATION OF ST. MARY THE VIRGIN 
FEBRUARY 2 


The Collect ’ 
ALMIGHTy and everliving God, we humbly beseech thy 
Majesty, that, as thy only-begotten Son was this day 
presented in the temple in substance of our flesh, so we 
may be presented unto thee with pure and clean hearts, 
by the same thy Son Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen. 


Jesus, by Thy presentation, 

Thou, who didst for us endure, 

Make us see Thy great salvation, 

Seal us with Thy promise sure. 

H.-P 

HE fortieth day after Christmas commemorates 
the Presentation of the infant Child Jesus in the 
Temple of His Father. The historic account fills a large 
place in the Gospel story of the infancy of Christ. It is 
true that the narrative of the presentation itself is 
given in few words. But the appearance of Simeon, as 
he came to the Temple, led of the Spirit, devoutly waiting 
for the consolation of Israel, fills an important place in 
Scripture. For it had been revealed unto him, ‘ by the 
Holy Ghost, that he should not see death before he had 
seen the Lord’s Christ.’ Simeon was both poet and 
prophet. His inspired song has been sung wherever 
the Gospel has been preached. His Nunc Dimittis was 
the swan song of the Old Testament Church, but the 


PURIFICATION OF ST. MARY THE VIRGIN 167 


Church of Christ has made it a hymn of undying praise. 
He foresaw that the holy Child was ‘ set for the fall and 
rising again of many in Israel’, and that the Virgin 
Mother would be called to receive the sad sword of 
sorrow, in a heart broken at the sight of the suffering Son. 

Simeon seems to stand in God’s holy house as the 
representative of our humanity, watching for the Advent 
of the world’s great Saviour. But there was one portion 
of the human race which especially needed a strong and 
loving Redeemer : woman vainly beating wings of hope 
against the bars of her prison-house. And as the Song 
of Simeon like sweet incense filled the Temple with praise, 
there drew near the first of holy women to adore the 
Christ, to minister to Him of their substance, to stand 
last at the cross, and to be first at the tomb. 

How appropriate and fitting it all was! Anna, ‘ the 
gracious,’ as her name signifies, a prophetess, an inspired 
forth-teller of God’s truth, the daughter of Phanuel, 
which is but a form of Peniel, with its beautiful meaning 
of ‘the face of God’, joining the aged Simeon in pro- 
claiming ‘joy to the world’, the Lord has come. She 
had those beautiful characteristics which have so often 
marked out woman for high service in the cause of God. 
It is said of Anna that she departed not from the Temple : 
how constant she was, and how faithful, and how perse- 
vering ! And it is said again, that she served God with 
fastings and prayers night and day—what splendid self- 
denial, what profound devotion, what untiring watch- 
fulness! She was of great age; eighty-four years had 
left their traces upon her widowed heart, and in a far 
truer sense than that of the Scottish seer, she could say : 

’Tis the sunset of life gives me mystical lore, 
And coming events cast their shadows before. 


168 THE. CHURCH YEAR 


God had given her the spirit of prophecy, and had filled 
her mind’s eye with the promised Saviour, and now He 
gave her utterance as well, when she saw the fulfilment of 
all her hopes, and could speak with certainty ‘of Him to 
all them that looked for redemption in Jerusalem’. 

The Presentation of Christ in the Temple is full of 
the deepest spiritual teaching. 

It was the fulfilment of the Divine requirement since 
the dark night of the Passover in Egypt, that the first- 
born should be dedicated to the service of God. 

The dim type and dark shadow passed, as the First- 
born, not of Mary only, but of the whole creation, was 
offered to God, and as prophecy found its perfect fulfil- 
ment: ‘Lo, I come to do Thy will.’ 

It was eminently fit, as Bishop Hall remarks, that 
“the Holy Mother should present God with His own’. 
How simple and yet how profound is our confession of 
the truth in the Nicene Creed, ‘ Incarnate by the Holy 
Ghost of the Virgin Mary’! 

And as Christ was the First-born of arestored humanity, 
the second Adam, the true head of our race: the mem- 
bers of Christ, all who are ‘in Him’, were thus presented 
to the Father, for a life of obedient service. 

The Purification of the Virgin Mother, although it has 
only a secondary place in the Festival, is not without its 
significance. 

It has been asked, Why was it necessary on her part, 
when the holy Child was conceived by the operation of 
the Holy Ghost ? And a still further question arises, 
if the translation of the Revisers be accepted, wi 

‘their purification ’ ? 

The answer is the same as that given for the Circum- 

cision of Christ. As Bishop Harvey Goodwin remarks, 


PURIFICATION OF ST. MARY THE VIRGIN 169 


“as Jesus was circumcised, so Mary was purified; in 
each case there was submission to the letter of a divine 
law, and there was no desire and no ettcanpt to establish 
an exception.’ 

The spiritual lesson to us takes us back to our Baptism. 
In its spiritual significance, as good old Bishop Hall 
pointed out, ‘ it is our circumcision, and our sacrifice of 
purification . . . our presentation unto God.’ It recalls 
our rich privileges, marks out for us our responsibilities, 
and it sends us to our plain duties, in a life of loving and 
loyal obedience, ‘ to serve and love Him best of all.’ 


te 


ST. MATTHIAS’S DAY 
FEBRUARY 24 


The Collect 
O AtmicHty Gop, who into the place of the traitor 
Judas didst choose thy faithful servant Matthias to be 
of the number of the twelve Apostles; Grant that thy 
Church, being alway preserved from false Apostles, may 
be ordered and guided by faithful and true pastors ; through 
Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen. 


Lord, Thine abiding presence directs the wondrous choice, 
For one in place of Judas the faithful now rejoice. 

EarRL NELSON. 
Great Works, the Secret and Sublime, forsooth, 
Let others prize! . . . What are these at best,—beside 
God helping, God directing everywhere ? 

BROWNING. 


T. MATTHIAS appears at first sight to have no 


other claim to attention or thought, save that he 
was chosen to take the place of the traitor Judas in the 


170 THE CHURCH YEAR 


apostolic band. His name is only mentioned in the New 
Testament in connexion with his appointment to the 
apostolate. 

But the fact that the name of any apostle receives a 
small space in the divinerecord is no proof that his labours 
were not abundant, and his influence widespread. For 
in the Scriptures, while the faults and failings of men 
are chronicled, as a constant warning to us, Christ alone 
is magnified, and He stands out above all others, as the 
only pure and perfect flower of our humanity. And 
the labours of every true follower of the Lord must ever 
be for the glory of God, and the extension of the kingdom 
of His dear Son. 

The name of the apostle seems fitting in view of his 
selection to fill the place of the apostate and traitor. It 
means a ‘giftof Jehovah’. St. Peter had suggested that 
one should be chosen to fill up the number of the Twelve, 
from those who had ‘companied’ with the Lord Jesus, 
and could thus bear witness to His resurrection. The 
disciples nominated two who had the necessary qualifica- 
tions, Joseph Barsabas and Matthias, and then com- 
mitted the whole matter to God, the great Disposer of 
events in prayer, leaving to the All-Wise the entire 
determination as to ‘which of them He had chosen’. 
And the lot fell upon Matthias. 

It is interesting to note that the lot was not after- 
wards used in the New Testament Church. There was 
no need of it, for the Holy Spirit was given to be an 
unceasing Guide. But under the old Covenant, lots were 
used to distinguish the scape-goat, in the assignment of 
priestly duties, and in the distribution of the promised 
land. The lot was regarded as a divine method of direc- 
tion and therefore conclusive. 


ST. MATTHIAS’S DAY 171 


The spiritual lessons connected with the appointment 
of Matthias are important to Christians in every age of 
the Church’s history. 

Matthias knew Christ personally. 

This is a supreme requisite in the Christian ministry. 
He had seen the Lord Jesus, he had believed in Him as 
the Christ of God, he had followed Him in Christian 
service. And every Christian must have the same 
spiritual experience. Not in the same way it is true, 
for Matthias saw Jesus Christ in the flesh; but not the 
less really are we to know Christ by faith. Our Church 
teaches her children in the Epiphany Collect to say, 
“we, which know Thee now by faith.’ 

Matthias was a witness of the Resurrection of Christ. 

And this, too, is to be the experience of the Christian. 
St. Paul, as Bishop Lightfoot points out, makes the 
essence of knowing Christ to consist in knowing the 
power of His resurrection. It is to be a felt experience, 
an appropriation of the fact and of the truth springing 
from it, the pledge of Christ’s triumph over sin, the 
proof of our justification through faith in Him, the 
assurance of immortality in the life of God. 

Matthias yielded instant obedience to the Divine call. 

There was no hesitation on his part when, in the 
midst of dangers, for the infant Church of Christ was then 
in the extremity of peril, he obeyed the call of duty. He 
knew the dangers and difficulties besetting the Church 
of Christ, and he must have been conscious of the 
persecutions which awaited it on every hand; but he 
never faltered and never wavered, but made that fateful 
choice which numbered him for ever with those that 
follow the Lamb. 

Matthias showed the highest spirit of Christian courage. 


172 THE CHURCH YEAR 


’ He was already in the ranks of the soldiers of Christ, 
and that, too, in the fighting line. He had ‘ companied ’ 
with Christ and His disciples from His Baptism to His 
Ascension. He stood ready for the call to arms. And 
now it came in the defection of one trusted much, Judas 
the traitor. Matthias was called to fill the gap in the 
ranks, to carry the banner to battle again which had fallen 
from traitorous hands. Napoleon said that the rarest 
kind of courage was two o’clock in the morning courage, 
but what kind is nobler than that of one who fills a 
traitor’s place, in a cause which seems hopeless, if not 
lost! But his confidence in his Divine Leader was not 
misplaced, for Jesus Christ overcame death, and turned 
the cross of shame into a throne of triumph. And it was 
given to Matthias to follow Him, who is the King of kings 
and Lord of lords. 

Matthias was a faithful disciple. 

There is little said concerning Matthias in Scripture. 
But he has this striking testimony borne to him, he was 
a member of that faithful band that had ‘ companied 
with us all the time that the Lord Jesus went in and 
out among us, beginning from the baptism of John 
to the day that He was taken up from us’. Many 
had failed their Master during that long testing period, 
and had walked no more with Him. In the great 
crisis of the cross they had been tested and found 
wanting. But Matthias had shown good fidelity. The 
Spirit of the Christ had entered in some measure into 
his heart, and the first love had continued and burned 
up in a constant flame. Faithful in that which was 
least, he was called to the higher office and larger work, 
the greatest for good that our world has known, that of 
an apostle of Christ. 


173 


THE ANNUNCIATION OF THE BLESSED 
VIRGIN MARY 


MARCH 25 


The Collect 
WE beseech thee, O Lord, pour thy grace into our hearts ; 
that, as we have known the incarnation of thy Son Jesus 
Christ by the message of an angel, so by his cross and passion 
we may be brought unto the glory of his resurrection ; 
through the same Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen. 


The Prophet gave the sign 
For faithful men to read ; 
A Virgin, born of David’s line, 
Shall bear the promised Seed. 
ANON. 


Chosen of heaven! that hour: but thou, oh thou, 

E’en as a flower with gracious rains o’erfraught, 

Thy virgin head beneath its crown didst bow, 

And take to thy meek breast th’ all-holy word, 

And own thyself the handmaid of the Lord. 
FELIcIA HEMANS. 


HE visit of the angel Gabriel to Mary of Nazareth 
was fraught with tremendous consequences. Never 
was more hopeful message brought to earth by heavenly 
visitant than that by Gabriel, the special messenger of 
the good news of God. As Archdeacon Moule so sympa- 
thetically writes : 
How beautiful within the shade 
Of Mary’s humble dwelling-place, 
With his high message clear displayed 
And Hail to the most blesséd maid! 
The smile of Gabriel’s face. 


174 THE CHURCH YEAR 


There was profound significance even in his name. 
“Iam Gabriel,’ that is, ‘Hero of God,’ one of the sacred 
seven, as Milton thought— 

Who in God’s presence, nearest to His throne, 

Stand ready at command, and are His eyes 

That run through all the heavens, and down to the earth 
Bear His swift commands. 

There is an old saying amongst the Jews, that Gabriel, 
the messenger of good, has two wings, whereas Michael, 
the warrior of God, who fights with the enemies of the 
Lord, has but one ; for God sends a swift messenger of 
joy and peace, but is slow to anger, and unwilling to 
execute wrath. 

It was the angel of peace who came to Mary, and yet 
in his name there was the thought of victory: God’s 
hero, God’s Mighty One. He announced to the Virgin 
the high and holy purposes of God towards her, as His 
chosen instrument, in His mighty plan of redemption. 
‘Hail, thou that art highly favoured,’ thou graciously 
accepted one! The thought of the original is not plena 
gratia, as the famous hymn in honour of the Virgin has 
led many to believe, but gratia cumulata, with its meaning, 
having been much graced,—as Bengel so graphically puts 
it, ‘ Not a mother of grace but a daughter.’ Stier carries 
the thought still further, ‘Mary is not the dispenser of 
favour, but the recipient of it, with and for the rest of 
us, the type and germ of the Church.’ 

The mistaken honours paid to the Virgin, which, had 
she the power, she would be the first to disclaim, should 
not prevent Christians from studying the stupendous 
miracle with which she was so intimately connected, the 
birth of the Sinless One ; nor yet shut out from us the 
noble lessons of her holy life. 


ANNUNCIATION OF BLESSED VIRGIN MARY 175 


The great truth of the Incarnation is enshrined here. 
The Son of God was born of a woman, and took our 
nature into His. He bound up the life of man with the 
life of God in one indivisible being. This He did not for 
time alone, but for all eternity. 

The Annunciation brings out in full relief the character 
of the Virgin. 

There is Faith. Sarah laughed in the face of the 
great promise, and her action looked like doubt ; Mary, 
though she might marvel as to how it could be, still 
rested in the word of God. 

There is Obedience. ‘ Behold the handmaid of the 
Lord; be it unto me according to thy word.’ 

There is Submission. The call that comes to her is 
along the path of the highest duty that ever human being 
has been asked to perform. She is to be the vehicle for 
the accomplishment of God’s mighty plan of the world’s 
salvation. There is the most humble and implicit 
submission to the will of God. 

There is Humility. Was ever such shown before, the 
complete and perfect innocence of the most beautiful 
modesty ? She looked forward to the Saviour, and 
confessed her own individual need, as well as her appro- 
priation of His salvation: ‘ My Saviour!’ 

I, even I, do magnify the Lord, 

And I rejoice in Him, my Saviour, God. 
Thus, with her own lips, she put away for ever the question 
of worship. She stands by her own confession in the 
ranks of sinners, and looks to Christ alone as her hope. 
The very humanity of the Virgin Mary puts aside all 
thought of worship due to her. Her chief charm, the 
whole beauty of her character, lies in the fact that she 
was the flower of womanhood. There is nothing in 


176 ~ THE CHURCH YEAR (fee 


Scripture nor in the early Fathers to suggest anything 
else. She was utterly unlike the fabled Lillis or Lillith 
of the Talmud, of whom the legend ran that she was the 
first wife of Adam, before the creation of Eve, who for 
disobedience was shut out of Paradise. Her home, 
according to the myth, is in the air, and she is said to 
be the mother of demons. Dante Gabriel Rossetti has 
in two lines characterized this Lillis of the fair hair : 

Not a drop of her blood was human, 

But she was made like a soft sweet woman. 
Never for an instant, as we see Mary in the Scripture 
narrative, was she aught else but human, and her life 
was bound up with the suffering and the sadness, and 
the joy too of our humanity. 


There is Consecration. It is a living sacrifice which. 


she offers to God: ‘not my will, but Thine.’ It is the 
utter abandonment of self: ‘ according to Thy word.’ 


& 


ST. MARK’S DAY 
APRIL 25 


The Collect 

O Atmicuty God, who hast instructed thy holy Church 

with the heavenly doctrine of thy Evangelist Saint Mark ; 

Give us grace, that, being not like children carried away 

with every blast of vain doctrine, we may be established 

in the truth of thy holy Gospel; through Jesus Christ our 
Lord. Amen. 


The lion-faced, he told abroad 

The strength of love, the strength of faith ; 

He showed the Almighty Son of God, 

The Man Divine who won by death. ? 
; C. F. ALEXANDER. _ 


ST. MARK’S DAY 177 


OHN whose surname was Mark, while a Hebrew 
by nation, a Levite by profession, bore a Roman 
Surname, Marcus, ‘a hammer.’ It is by his surname that 
he is best known, the strong hammer of God, crushing 
the hard and flinty rock of man’s natural heart, through 
the power of the Divine Word. 

St. Mark was St. Peter’s spiritual child, and that 
apostle fondly calls_him in the faith, ‘ Marcus my son.’ 
He was closely associated with Barnabas, whose ‘ sister’s 
son’ he was. He was a man of the city, his mother 
Mary having her home in comparative comfort at Jeru- 
salem itself. It was probably the fact that her house 
was the social meeting-place of the early Christians 
that brought him under St. Peter’s teaching to Christ. 
Peter evidently made Mary’s home a place of sojourn ; 
probably she had a prophet’s chamber, for it was to 
her house that his footsteps turned on the day of his 
miraculous deliverance from prison, in answer to prayer. 
His voice was evidently familiar to the maid Rhoda, 
who came to answer his knocking, for she recognized it 
at once. 

The Gospel of St. Mark has been accepted through all 
the Christian ages as the Gospel of St. Peter, in almost 
as true a sense as if it bore his name. Tertullian, for 
instance, speaks of Mark as the interpreter of Peter, and 
Origen distinctly says, ‘Mark composed it as Peter guided 
him.’ His Gospel is peculiarly descriptive, and largely 
practical. He appears to be more interested in the acts 
of our blessed Lord, and in the events with which He 
was connected, than in His teaching and sermons, It 
is the life of Christ that he portrays. And the life is that 
of Jesus, the Son of God. It is a life of almost continuous 
labour, a life of teaching, alife of preaching, alifeof healing. 

N 


178 THE CHURCH YEAR 


St. Mark’s symbol is the lion. It is emblematic of 
the lion-like utterance of his Gospel, and his pictorial 
representations of the Lion of the tribe of Judah. 

And yet the boldness of his nature was tinged with 
a sweet gentleness, which at first seemed to suggest 
weakness. St. Paul did not hesitate to blame him, when 
he allowed personal feeling, or home-sickness, to stand in 
the way of the all-important work of the propagation of 
the gospel. But if for the moment he seemed to fail, he 
soon with God’s grace returned to the work of an evange- ~ 
list and minister. And God overruled the seeming evil, 
by using Mark in company with Barnabas for the spread 
of the gospel in other regions. Later still, he was with 
Peter at either the real or spiritual Babylon. And at 
the close of St. Paul’s career, Mark is with him at Rome, 
where his ministry is greatly prized by the apostle, and 
his presence was to him a source of great comfort. 

There is a deep spiritual lesson in the return of Mark 
to the right path. Demas, who like Mark had been a 
fellow-labourer with St. Paul, fell away, and there is 
nothing to show that he ever returned to his first love. 
But Mark became ‘profitable for the ministry’, and 
probably his knowledge of Latin made him a power in 
Rome. 

The last scenes of his life have a certain amount of 
historical uncertainty about them, but, according to 
tradition, he founded the first Christian Church in 
Alexandria, which afterwards became famous for its 
learning. He is said to have been the first Bishop of 
Alexandria, and tradition tells us that he died a blessed 
martyr for the truth he loved and preached, under the 
crue] monster Nero. 


179 


ST. PHILIP AND ST. JAMES’S DAY 


May I 


The Collect 
O AtmicHty God, whom truly to know is everlasting 
life ; Grant us perfectly to know thy Son Jesus Christ to 
be the way, the truth, and the life ; that, following the steps 
of thy holy Apostles, Saint Philip and Saint James, we may 
stedfastly walk in the way that leadeth to eternal life ; 
through the same thy Son Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen. 


One who warns the sinner 
Timely mercy seek ; 
One who brings to Jesus 
Souls sincere and meek.—J. S. JoNEs. 


O Way that leads to God, 
O Word abiding ay, 

O endless Light on high, 
Mercy’s fresh-springing flood, 
Worker of all things good, 
O glorious Life of all 

That on their Maker call, 


Christ Jesus, hear. , 
CLEMENT OF ALEXANDRIA, 
tr. DEAN PLUMPTRE. 


HE Church of England combines the commemora- 

tion of St. Philip with that of St. James the Less. 
The chief thought of the day is centred in Christ as ‘ the 
way, the truth, and the life ’, and the importance of that 
knowledge which carries with it an eternity of life. 
* This is life eternal, that they might know Thee the only 
true God, and Jesus Christ, whom Thou hast sent.’ 

N 2 


180 THE CHURCH YEAR 


St. Philip had listened to the words of Christ, when he 
taught His disciples that He was the living Way from 
man to God, from sin to forgiveness, from earth to 
heaven; that He was the Truth, absolute truth con- 
cerning both man and God; and that He was the Life, 
its Author, Possessor, and Prince; and wonderingly he 
sought for a theophany of glory, a vision of the Eternal, 
which would scatter doubt and compel belief. 

We may well be thankful that Philip asked the 
question which led our Lord, as Professor Hort pointed 
out, to use words which ‘ belong more to dialogue than 
to discourse’. For what a flood of light they throw upon 
the Person of the Christ. ‘Have I been so long time 
with you, and yet hast thou not known Me, Philip ?’ 
The point, as Westcott with his usual penetration 
remarks, is not in regard to the power of observation in 
the disciples, but touches primarily the self-revelation 
of Christ. For Christ was the revelation of the love, and 
will, and purpose of the Father ; an unveiling of the Father 
had been going on through the life and ministry of Jesus 
before their eyes. The appearance of God in dazzling 
vision, or startling glory, in form brighter than light, or 
name written in the heavens, might have produced, as 
in Moses and Isaiah, fear and trembling, but only a 
Personal Life could awaken trust, produce love, lead 
to obedience, inspire devotion and self-sacrifice, and 
maintain the life of God in the soul of man. 

‘Hast thou not known Me, Philip ?’ And then Jesus 
used words which only a Divine Son could possibly use 
of a Divine Father : ‘ He that hath seen Me hath seen 
the Father.’ This is certainly something far above any 
mere moral or spiritual union. As Godet justly remarks, 
even the most perfect Christian could not say, ‘ He that 


ST, PHILIP AND ST. JAMES’S DAY 181 


hath seen me hath seen Christ ;’ how much less then 
could a Jew, though perfect, have said, ‘He that hath 
seen me hath seen the Father’? What is it but Christ’s 
claim to Deity, as the Son of the Father ? 

St. Philip, who thus drew from Christ the deepest 
teaching concerning His divine nature, was one of the 
most practical of the apostles. Whenever he appears 
on the great stage of action, during our Lord’s Ministry, 
he appears as a man of affairs. He was the only apostle, 
with the possible exception of Andrew, bearing a name 
unmistakably Greek in its origin. We are left to con- 


_jecture as to why it was given to him, for it has a 


strange meaning for a Jew, not to say an apostle: 
‘lover of horses.’ 

We see the activity of Philip in the preparation for 
our Lord’s great miracle of the feeding of the multitude, 
perhaps because of his ability in matters of business, or 
possibly on account of the proximity of his native town 
Bethsaida. Then he was thought to be the fitting 
person to introduce the inquiring Greeks to the Lord 
Jesus. But in his humility he took them to Andrew. 

In character Philip was practical and yet retiring, 
earnest and sincere, perhaps a little slow at first to see 
the truth, but an inquiring disciple, standing ready to 
receive the truth, and to live it out in action in his life. 

St. James, who bore the surname of ‘the Less’, gained it 
from his diminutive stature. There is probably no apostle 
about whom so little is known. There are no less than 
six persons of the name of James, closely connected with 
our Lord, in the Gospel narrative, but many scholars 
think that while six different names are used, there are 
certainly only three individuals bearing them. 

James the Less is thought in all probability to be 


182 THE CHURCH YEAR 


James the son of Alphaeus (Mark iii. 18), and son of 
Mary (xv. 40). 

He has been identified with James, ‘the Lord’s 
brother,’ surnamed the Just, the first Bishop of Jeru- 
salem, by different writers, notably by the scholarly 
‘Lange. But this identification has been greatly ques- 
tioned, on many critical grounds. The Church of 
England, however, seems to have given it a certain 
sanction by using part of the Epistle of St. James for 
this day. In the Greek Church a distinction is made, 
for October 9 is dedicated to James the Less, and 
October 23 to ‘ the Lord’s brother ’. 

James the Less stands ninth in the list of the apostles 
as given by the Evangelists. We know very little more 
than the names of his parents, and that he was a cousin 
of the Lord. Nay! we know that he followed Christ, 
and served Him as an apostle, and that his name is on 
one of the foundation stones of the New Jerusalem. 


te 
ST. BARNABAS THE APOSTLE 


JUNE II 


The Collect 
O Lorp God Almighty, who didst endue thy holy Apostle 
Barnabas with singular gifts of the Holy Ghost; Leave 
us not, we beseech thee, destitute of thy manifold gifts, 
nor yet of grace to use them alway to thy honour and glory ; 
through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen. 


The son of consolation, moved by Thy law of love, 
Borsaline earthly treasures, sought riches from above. 
HorATIO, EARL NELSON. 


ST. BARNABAS THE APOSTLE 183 


Like dew upon a wither’d flower 
Is comfort to the heart that’s broken. 
HARTLEY COLERIDGE, 


Alas! we have so little grace, 
With love so little burn, 
That the hardest of our works for God 
-Is to comfort those that mourn.—FaBER.. - 
OSES, or Joseph, whose surname was Barnabas, ‘son 
of prophecy, of exhortation, or of consolation,’ is 
one of the most beautiful characters in Holy Writ. 
The inspired writers are most careful not to pronounce 
mere panegyrics upon human instruments, however 
blessed or used of God. ‘We have this treasure,’ as 
St. Paul writes, ‘in earthen vessels, that the excellency 
of the power may be of God, and not of us.’ But of 
Barnabas it is said, that ‘ he was a good man, and full of 
the Holy Ghost and of faith’. 

The personal appearance of the apostles of the Lord 
is largely a matter of conjecture. The Christian imagina- 
tion has loved, however, to picture them as representa- 
tive of different types of Christian life. John represents 
the spiritual and contemplative type, Peter the bold and 
courageous, Paul the intellectual, Matthew the practical. 

There is in the action of the people of Lystra towards 
Paul and Barnabas, as Chrysostom infers, a hint in 
regard to the personal aspect and bearing of Barnabas. 
They said, ‘The gods are come down to us in the likeness 
of men.’ And they called Barnabas Jupiter, the supreme 
deity of Roman and Greek mythology, the god of the sky, 
the father of the gods. It would thus appear that 
Barnabas was of commanding mien, of dignified appear- 
ance, and of splendid presence. 


184 THE CHURCH YEAR 


Barnabas is described as a good man. 

This eulogy from the Evangelist’s pen is no mere 
empty compliment. The Lord Jesus refused to receive 
the title ‘good’ when it was offered to Him in conven- 
tional politeness. 

Barnabas was a ‘ good man ’, what we should now call 
a good Christian man. He was a truly converted man, 
a spiritually minded man, a godly man. He was a native 
of Cyprus, a land where the people were renowned in 
all ages for licentious living, the chief goddess being 
Ashtoreth, whose worship was associated with sexual 
impurity. Out of this land, dark with idolatry, from an 
environment destructive of every virtue, Barnabas came 
forth, and following Christ, the Light of life, he became 
a light-bearer of the gospel of truth. 

The secret of his life is not withheld from us—he was 
‘full of the Holy Ghost’. He was a man filled with 
divine power, and blessed with rich spiritual gifts. But, 
it may be asked, how did such great privilege become 
his ? We are told still further, that he was a man full of 
faith. Now all is made clear. The Holy Spirit came 
through faith in Christ, and goodness is a fruit of the 
Spirit. This is the divine method, without which there 
is no real goodness, for goodness is nothing less than the 
life of God in the soul of man. ‘And of His fullness 
have we all received, and grace for grace.’ 

Barnabas means ‘son of consolation ’. 

This is indeed a splendid name, with a wealth of 
beauty in its meaning. It was a great name to live up 
to, as Alexander the Great hinted to the soldier who 
bore his own name, i.e. ‘Helper of men’; either change 
it, or live up to it. But Barnabas was a true consoler, 
a helper of the weak, a succourer of the needy, a com- 


ST. BARNABAS THE, APOSTLE 185 


forter of the troubled, with an eye seeking to discover 
the wretched and miserable : 


He hath a tear for pity, and a hand 
Open as day for melting charity. 


Such men carry a benediction with them wherever 
they go. Their opposites are not far to seek. There 
are people who bring into human society a sense of 
irritation, like winds that fill the eyes with dust. There 
are men who chill the hearts of those they meet, thus 
enfeebling resolve and preventing initiative, just as the 
ice from the north, as it passes along the shore, keeps back 
the springing vegetation. In the late Boer War it is said 
that a man was brought to trial by court martial, not 
because he was a rebel, nor for infraction of discipline, 
nor for aiding and abetting the Boers, but simply because 
he was a discourager. There was no use in action; to 
his mind, Britain’s cause was utterly hopeless ; the only 
course open, absolute surrender ; and when his word was 
not ‘Surrender!’ it was ‘Retreat!’ Every reverse was 
food to his doubt, and increased his powers of questioning, 
and led him to offer fresh reasons for discouragement. 

But Barnabas was like the sunlight, and carried with 
him good cheer. The feeble were given heart, the down- 
cast looked up, the hopeless took fresh courage. His 
very presence was an inspiration. 

Barnabas was a man of the largest-hearted charity. 

He sold his landed possessions, and brought the money, 
and laid it at the apostles’ feet. He had given his heart 
to Christ, and he would not withhold his money. He 
consecrates it to the service of God : 

Take my silver and my gold, 
Not a mite would I withhold. 


186 : THE CHURCH YEAR 


The kindly spirit of the man was everywhere in 
evidence. He it was who took St. Paul after his con- 
version, when the disciples were still afraid of him, and 
brought the once persecutor, but now humble Christian, 
to the apostles. When at Antioch the gospel was 
preached to the Grecians or Greek-speaking Jews, and 
Barnabas was sent thither by the Church at Jerusaleni, 
he displayed no sectional, no narrow spirit, but was glad 
to see souls brought into the light, and exhorted them 
(as his surname implies) with purpose of heart to cleave 
unto the Lord. The record of his life shows a gentle, 
kindly, unselfish character, marked by considerateness 
and warmth of heart, combined with tenderness and 
munificence. 


ae 


ST. JOHN BAPTIST’S DAY 
JUNE 24 


The Collect 

ALMIGHTY God, by whose providence thy servant John 
Baptist was wonderfully born, and sent to prepare the way 
of thy Son our Saviour, by preaching of repentance ; Make 
us so to follow his doctrine and holy life, that we may truly 
repent according to his preaching; and after his example 
constantly speak the truth, boldly rebuke vice, and patiently 
suffer for the truth’s sake ; through Jesus Christ our Lord. 
Amen. 


The great Proclaimer, with a voice 
More awful than the sound of a trumpet, cried: 
Repentance, and Heaven’s kingdom nigh at hand! 
MILTON. 


ST. JOHN BAPTIST’S DAY 187 


John, than which man a sadder or a greater 
Not till this day has been of woman born ; 
John, like some iron peak by the Creator 
Fired with the red glow of the rushing morn. 
Thus, when the sun shall rise and overcome it, 
Stands in his shining desolate and bare, 
Yet not the less the inexorable summit 
Flamed him his signal to the upper air. 
F. W. H. MYErs. 


the Old Covenant, received from the lips of Jesus 

Christ the highest encomium He who was the Truth 
ever gave to mortal man. Among the sons of men, said 
the Lord Jesus, no prophet greater than John the 
Baptist has arisen. It was no mere compliment, we 
may be sure, but had a divine purpose, probably to 
magnify the Law of the Old Covenant, and by contrast 
to show the value of the New Covenant of Grace, for ‘ he 
that is least in the kingdom of God is greater than he’. 
It is the old legal maxim applied to a spiritual principle, 
“the least of the greatest is greater than the greatest of 
the least.’ 

The genius of the man, the nobility of his character, 
the influence of his life and work, were profoundly affected 
by his nearness to the Christ. For he was the chosen 
Herald of the Gospel, who came in the spirit and power 
of Elijah, the Forerunner of the Messiah of Israel, yea 
more, of the Saviour of the world. 

He was a God-sent man, as the Evangelist declares. 
His very name reveals God’s high purpose concerning 
this child of prophecy : Jehohanan, as it really is, Jeho- 
vah’s gift. He is in himself a sign of God’s goodness, a 


a. the Baptist, the greatest of Saints under 


gift of His grace, a harbinger of God’s inestimable gift of 
His dear Son. 

He was a God-inhabited man. From the moment of 
his birth the promise of God was that he should be 
filled with the Holy Ghost. We may wonder why such 
a great promise should be given before Pentecost, but 
we cannot doubt the fact. And in the fact we have the 
explanation of the life, Spirit-filled, Spirit-led, and Spirit- 
endued, as it certainly was at every stage. 

The man and his message, word and deed, character 
and life, how closely they are related in John the Baptist. 
There is such a thing as the message of a life, as well as 
the message of the lips; there is, beyond question, teach- 
ing by character and example, as well as teaching by 
word of mouth. 

(1) The Character of the Man. 

The first mark of his greatness is faithfulness. 

This is a fruit of the Spirit, as St. Paul points out in 
his Epistle to the Galatians. He was faithful to Christ. 
He never wavered in his allegiance, and if he seemed 
to do so for a brief moment in the darkness and desertion 
of the prison cell, it was but the trembling of the needle 
as it seeks the pole. Indeed, we may apply to him the 
words of the old English song : 


True as the needle to the pole, 
Or as the dial to the sun. 


188 THE CHURCH YEAR 


‘ This above all: to thine own self be true,’ said our | 
great dramatist ; but John Baptist rose higher, for being 
true to the highest, even Christ, he could not ‘ then be 
false to any man’, nor to anything. He therefore fol- 
lowed truth wherever it should lead, as we know even 
to death. He made duty his polar star, and constantly 
followed its light and leading. Conscience, that ‘ little 


ST. JOHN BAPTIST’S DAY 189 


spark of celestial fire’, was ever to him a veritable 
‘candle of the Lord’. 

The second leading characteristic of the man was his 
supreme courage. 

Racine, when he places on the lips of Joad in his Athalie 
the sublime words, ‘ I fear God, dear Abner, and I have 
no other fear,’ is but re-echoing the spirit of the Baptist, 
whose great soul feared God, and knew no other fear. 
He could never be a time-server, and bow to every 
changing wind of popular favour or disgrace. He was 
no reed shaken by the wind, but a forest oak, that might 
bend, but would never break. And thus he lived, a bold 
rebuker of vice, a constant witness for the truth, a patient 
sufferer for the truth’s sake. 

The third great element in his character was his deep 
humility. 

The man might have been carried away by the burst 
of popular acclaim that welcomed his preaching, or 
moved to pride by the sight of the vast multitudes that 
hung upon his words and followed his ministry. But 
never for an instant was this the case. He performed 
that most difficult task of all, he put his own personality 
entirely aside ; he was nothing in himself,—a voice, that 
is all. And so his estimate of himself was true, as he 
looked towards Christ, ‘I must decrease, but He must 
increase.’ 

(2) The Message of the Preacher. 

It was a call to repentance. 

The terrible fact of sin, its power, its curse, its hold 
upon man’s heart and life was ever present to his mind. 
And as the Preparer for the way of the Lord, his first 
call was to repentance. Repentance is far more than 
sorrow for sin, although sorrow is a part of every true 


190° THE CHURCH YEAR - 


repentance. Perhaps no better definition has ever been 
given than that of our Church Catechism, ‘ Repentance 
whereby they forsake sin.’ It is a turning of the mind 
upon one’s need, a turning of the heart from self and sin, 
a turning of the life to God to whom it belongs. 

John the Baptist pointed to Christ. 

This was the burden of his message, ‘ Behold the 
Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world.’ 
It was the special need of his age, and it is the need of 
every age. For Christ is Himself the gospel. The light 
of life is Christ, the hope of man is Christ, the home of 
the heart is Christ; in a word, Christ is All. It was to 
Christ that John Baptist pointed, and the Church of God 
has laid hold of the supreme principle: Christ for us 
our atonement, Christ in us the hope of glory. 

John exalted the Holy Spirit’s baptism, as the cleans- 
ing and renewing power of God, fire to cleanse, fire to 
enlighten, fire to guide. The Baptism of John was 
mainly symbolical, showing the need of purification from 
sin; and initiatory, standing at the door of the kingdom 
so-near at hand. The Baptism of Christ in the Spirit, 
as John witnessed, would be mighty in operation, not 
only in the outward element, but in the spiritual as well, 
which, like fire, would illumine the mind, purify the 
heart, and inflame the will with burning zeal. 

The Baptist raised a warning voice to the careless and 
impenitent. He pointed out their peril, and warned them 
of their danger. The chaff would be destroyed by fire. 
What a figure it is of a useless life, and what a fate 
awaits it ! 

And what a contrast there is to the safety of the 
believer, which he at the same moment proclaimed! 
He will ‘gather His wheat into the garner’. On the 


ST. JOHN BAPTIST’S DAY 191 


one hand, a message of comfort to those who are safe in 
Christ ; on the other, a faithful warning of a terrible fate 
awaiting those who turn a deaf ear to the great message 
of God’s prophet, his urgent call to repentance. 


te 


ST. PETER’S DAY 
JUNE 29 


The Collect 

O Atmicuty God, who by thy Son Jesus Christ didst 
give to thy Apostle Saint Peter many excellent gifts, and 
commandedst him earnestly to feed thy flock; Make, we 
beseech thee, all Bishops and Pastors diligently to preach 
thy holy Word, and the people obediently to follow the 
same, that they may receive the crown of everlasting glory ; 
through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen. 


Thrice fallen, thrice restored ! 
The bitter lesson learnt, 
That heart for thee, O Lord, 
With triple ardour burnt. 
The cross he took he laid not down 
Until he grasp’d the Martyr’s crown. 
Bp. Wm. WALSHAM How. 


Simon Peter answered and said, Thou art the Christ, the 
Son of the living God.—St. Matt. xvi. 16. 
T. PETER was the natural leader of the apostolic 
band. He was fitted for the position by natural 
temperament and endowment, and from his early train- 
ing in life. It all formed a foundation upon which, in. 
the school of Christ, the Lord Jesus could build. 


192 THE CHURCH YEAR 


The sphere of life in which he had already been 
trained was a splendid one. Where could many traits 
of noble character be better formed than in his fisherman’s 
boat, on rough as well as smiling sea, developing boldness, 
courage, energy, endurance, promptness, sacrifice, vigi- 
lance—one might almost say, the active qualities in every 
form ? 

Such was the man whom Andrew, first of disciples 
called, led to Jesus. His name was Simon—truly sym- 
bolic, for it means ‘hearer ’—which was to be changed — 
to Kephas, ‘stone, or rock-man,’ which we use under 
its Greek form of Peter. 

Peter, as we know him now, was a man with many 
noble qualities of head and heart, and with many natural 
weaknesses and imperfections, which needed the grace 
of God to alter and destroy. The very qualities which 
under grace made him great, in a selfish worldly life 
would have proved all the more dangerous. 

For he was a man of flesh and blood, with a great heart 
beating in his breast. In temperament he was ardent 
and enthusiastic, easily carried away by feeling. In 
nature he was wilful and wayward, a man of impulse. 
In mind he was quick in apprehension, and ready to 
leap to a conclusion. In action he was intense, and 
energetic, and vigorous, burning his bridges as he went 
upon his way. 

It was splendid material from which to mould, and ~ 
shape, and make a man. But there was always the © 
danger that he might be marred in the making. And 
it is for ever true, that the degeneration or the per- 
version of the best is the worst. They say “best men 
are moulded out of faults’, And we know that 
angels rejoice when men turn from the worse for the 


ST. PETER’S DAY 193 


better. But virtues turned into vices must surely make 
them weep : 


For I say this is death and the sole death,— 
When a man’s loss comes to him from his gain ; 
Darkness from light, from knowledge ignorance, 
And lack of love from love made manifest. 
The man Simon, the hearer, became Peter, the stone 
or rock-like one, under the influence of Jesus Christ. 
Peter was a courageous man. But at first it was 
merely physical courage. He could brave the storm 
and the deep, and in the face of an armed force strike 
off the ear of Malchus. But in moral courage he was 
strangely lacking. This was shown more than once, 
but with lamentable results in the threefold denial of 
his Lord. The resurrection of the Lord Jesus, preceded 
as it was by the loving, if reproachful, look of his Master 
—‘The Lord turned and looked upon Peter,’—filled him 
with a courage which nothing could daunt. This marvel- 
lous change can only be explained by two supreme facts, 
the life of the Risen Christ, and the gift of the Holy Spirit. 
Peter was a man of strong affections. He had not 
that worst of weaknesses, a cold and dry heart. But like 
Browning’s pomegranate, ‘cut deep down the middle,’ it 
would show ‘A heart within blood-tinctured, of a veined 
humanity’. And Christ, the King of Love, drew out the 
affection of that warm and trustful heart. Who can 
watch the dealing of the loving Jesus with Peter with- 
out being moved by it? The first special message He 
sent after His resurrection had the personal thought of 
His loving yet weak disciple in it, “Go, tell My disciples, 
and Peter.’ Peter was the first of the apostolic band 
to whom Christ appeared. 
Peter was a man of deep humility. He was clothed 
oO 


7 


194 THE CHURCH YEAR 


with it, though his giant-heart of courage seemed at 
times to cast it off. But study more closely his life and 
you will find that none of the apostles approached him 
in his sense of personal need and sinfulness. For 
instance, in the hour of the miraculous draught of the 

. fishes, Andrew, earnest man that he was, stood apparently 
unmoved; John, the apostle of love, said nothing seem- 
ingly; but Peter was moved toa sense of heart-crushing 
penitence, and cried in an agony of sorrow, ‘Depart from 
me; for lama sinful man, O Lord.’ This spirit of repen- 
tance, so akin to that of David, marked him out amidst 
all failures, and faults, and falls, as a spiritual man, one 
who, sounding the depths of human need, saw nothing 
but despair, until in faith he looked away to Christ, who 
alone could help and save. 

Peter was a man of rare faith. It was robust and 
rock-like, as became the man. He was the first of the 
disciples to confess his Lord as the Messiah. While men 
who had watched the ministry of Christ, and had seen 
His miracles of love and power, were content to think that 
He was the Baptist, or Elias, or one of the prophets, the 
faith of Peter leaped to the truth of His Sonship, ‘ Thou 
art the Christ, the Son of the living God.’ 

It is easy to see the faults of Peter. It is unnecessary, 
however, as a modern writer has done, to stigmatize 
him as ‘a cowardly liar ’. 

His faults are written large upon Holy Writ for our 
learning. Possibly, they areourown. Or if they are not 
seen in our lives, the want of them may arise from a cold- 
ness in our nature, which would never produce them. 
But if we are weak, and impulsive, and inconsistent—rash 
and wanting in moral courage, we may learn many 
lessons from St. Peter. 


ST. PETER’S DAY 195 


For if he denied Christ, and forsook Christ, he repented 
deeply and bitterly ; he loved his Master still, and longed 
for forgiveness, and remained near until he was restored 
again. 

And though he failed, as so many do, just where he 
was strongest—in courage, in faith, and in love; still he 
ever turned to Christ, the Source of all strength, and 
sought and found in His grace help for every time of 
need, that ‘ we having died unto sin’, in the old life, 
‘ might live unto righteousness,’ in the new. 


te 


ST. JAMES THE APOSTLE 


JULY 25 


The Collect 
GRANT, O merciful God, that as thine holy Apostle Saint 
James, leaving his father and all that he had, without delay 
was obedient unto the calling of thy Son Jesus Christ, and 
followed him: so we, forsaking all worldly and carnal 
affections, may be evermore ready to follow thy holy 
commandments; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen. 


Saint James was in the path of toil 
When, ‘ Follow Me,’ Emmanuel said ; 
And lo, at once, the rude turmoil 
He left, to haste where Jesus led.—MOoNnTGOMERY. 


I charge thee . . . Fling away Ambition ! 
By that sin fell the Angels:—how can man, then, 
The image of his Maker, hope to win by it ? 
SHAKESPEARE. 
O02 


196 THE CHURCH YEAR 


Christ heard; and will’d that James should fall, 
First prey of Satan’s rage ; 
John linger out his fellows all, 
And die in bloodless age.—J. H. NEWMAN. 
What is enthusiasm ? What can it be 
But thought enkindled to a high degree ? 


T. JAMES the Apostle of the Lord, whose day we 

keep, is, it is quite evident from the Epistle and- 
Gospel for the day, St. James the brother of St. John, 
and the son of Zebedee. 
» The English name, James, is the familiar Jacob, the 
great father of the twelve patriarchs, who from being a 
miserable supplanter, became the mighty Israel, a prince 
with God. The Hebrew name has passed into almost 
every language. 

St. James was one of the earliest followers of Christ. 
This was in every sense fitting, for that is the literal 
significance of his name, ‘ following after.’ The state- 
ment of St. John that Andrew ‘first findeth his own 
brother Simon’, would almost seem to imply that John 
secondly sought his own brother James and brought 
him to Jesus. In any case, the Lord Jesus soon gave 
him a definite and distinct call to follow Him. For when 
the Lord saw Zebedee with his two sons, James and John, 
in the boat mending their nets, He called the two sons 
to discipleship, and they ‘ immediately left the ship and 
their father, and followed Him’. St. Mark’s graphic 
touch, that the ‘hired servants’ were left with the 
father, shows two things: first, that they were not heart- 
less in leaving their father alone, and in the second place, 
that they were people of some little means. There was 
a second, if not a third call, after the miraculous draught 


‘ 


ST. JAMES THE APOSTLE 197 


of fishes, when, with Peter and John, James forsook ‘all’ 
and followed Jesus in permanent discipleship. 

How few comparatively of our young men hear the 
call to the Christian ministry! Why is this ? Is it that the 
call is not frequently enough voiced in the pulpit or given 
in the religious press ? ‘In my lifetime,’ the Bishop of 
Caledonia (Dr. Du Vernet) says, ‘ I only remember having 
heard one such appeal from the pulpit. It was when 
I was a lad, yet I remember even the words and the 
earnest pleading tone: “‘ If there is a young man here 
present who has had a passing thought of entering the 
ministry, let him think it again, for it may be the Lord 
is calling him.” ’ 

The character of St. James is portrayed for us in the 
pages of the New Testament. The record is brief, it is 
true, but a word sometimes sums up a man, and makes 
him live and breathe before the mind. 

St. James was evidently of an ardent temperament. 
His nature was affectionate, his feelings warm and 
tender ; a man of heart and soul, with a touch of passion 
easily moved to enthusiasm, and quick to take up his 
work in a spirit of zealous interest. He was not one of 
those ‘ whose hearts are dry as summer dust ’, much less 
‘a man whose blood,’ as Shakespeare says, ‘is very 
snow-broth.’ 

For St. James and his brother St. John were called, 
really surnamed, by the Lord Jesus, ‘ Boanerges,’ sons 
of rage, soon angry, sons of thunder. The name was 
no mere term of reproach, but described the naturally 
energetic and impetuous disposition of the men, a dispo- 
sition which, under the influence of the Holy Spirit, 
restrained by the power of God, and elevated by His 
mighty grace, would make them instruments for untold 


198 THE CHURCH YEAR 


blessing. The natural endowment of an ardent and 
zealous nature, transformed by the indwelling Christ, 
and renewed by the influence of the Holy Spirit, issued 
in lives pervaded throughout by burning love and un- 
dying earnestness. 

St. James was brought into the closest intimacy with 
the life and work of his Divine Master. He shared with 
Peter and John the privilege of being with Jesus when 
He raised the little daughter of Jairus. He was also 
present with them at the Mount of Transfiguration, and 
later still at the Agony of the blessed Lord in the garden 
of Gethsemane. We may be sure that there was some 
reason behind the introduction of St. James into the 
inner circle of confidence founded upon affection and 
trust. We may then claim for him that fruit of the 
Spirit’s work which is realized in good fidelity and willing- 
ness to serve. 

St. James shares with his great brother, the apostle of 
love, the condemnation of Christ for two specific acts. 

One was their spirit of intolerance, in desiring that 
fire should be sent from heaven to consume the villages 
of the Samaritans, who seemed to be unfriendly to their 
Master. The spirit was in keeping with their naturally 
zealous natures, but it was foreign to the spirit of the 
loving Christ. Their zeal was a false one, their fiery 
enthusiasm was misdirected, but when chastened, and 
put upon right lines in keeping with the gracious Saviour’s 
mission, and touched with His divine yearning, and 
moving in the direction of His great Love-quest, it 
became a mighty power for good. And out of their 
mistaken zeal there issued the great lesson of the 
divine mission of the Lord Jesus, a truth which shall be 
fruitful in blessing while the world shall last: ‘ For 


ST. JAMES THE APOSTLE 199 


the Son of Man is not come to destroy men’s lives, but to 
save them.’ 

The other rebuke was in connexion with the petition 
of Salome, the mother of Zebedee’s children, as she 
pleaded for the place of honour for James and John, at 
the right hand and the left of the Saviour-Judge. The 
request was evidently born of a desire on their part, or 
made with their consent, for the Lord’s answer was 
directed to them, ‘ Ye know not what ye ask. Are ye 
able to drink the cup that I am about to drink ?’ And 
while Christ most tenderly rebuked the desire of the two, 
and the indignation which had sprung up in the breasts 
of the ten, He taught a lesson of eternal and of most 
precious meaning, that ‘ the Son of Man came not to be 
ministered unto, but to minister, and to give His life a 
ransom for many ’. 

St. James was the first of the apostolic band called 
upon to drink the Saviour’s cup of suffering and of 
death. He fell by the cruel sword of Herod Agrippa, 
when that monarch stretched forth his hand to vex 
certain of the Church. ‘ He killed James the brother of 
John with the sword.” He was thus the proto-martyr of 
the apostles of the Lord. And he has this unique 
distinction, that he is the only apostle whose martyrdom 
is chronicled in the pages of Holy Writ. 

There is a very beautiful tradition, which has come 
down from the days of Clement of Alexandria, that the 
soldier who led St. James to the place of execution was 
so struck with the sublime courage of the apostle, by his 
gentle bearing, and his supreme faith in his Master, that 
he also openly acknowledged himself to be a Christian, 
and laid down his life as a witness for Christ. ‘The 
blood of the martyrs is the seed of the Church.’ 


200 THE CHURCH YEAR 


THE TRANSFIGURATION OF CHRIST! 
AvuGust 6 


The Collect 

O Gop, who in the mount didst reveal to chosen witnesses 
thine only-begotten Son wonderfully transfigured, in raiment 
white and glistering; Mercifully grant that we, being 
delivered from the disquietude of this world, may be per- 
mitted to behold the King in his beauty, who with thee, 
O Father, and thee, O Holy Ghost, liveth and reigneth, 
one God, world without end. Amen. 


O wondrous type! O vision fair 
Of glory that the Church shall share ; 
Which Christ upon the mountain shows, 
Where brighter than the sun He glows! 
Anon, tr. J. M. NEALE. 


Lord, it is good for us to be 

Entranced, enwrapt, alone with Thee; 

And watch Thy glistering raiment glow 

Whiter than Hermon’s whitest snow, 

The human lineaments that shine 

Irradiant with a light divine: 

Till we too change from grace to grace, 

Gazing on that transfigured face.—A. P. STANLEY. 


HE lessons which cluster around the Transfigura- 

tion of our blessed Lord are amongst the most 
precious, and indeed important, connected with the acts 
and words of the Lord Jesus Christ. 


i This festival occurs in the Calendar of the Protestant 
Episcopal Church in the United States of America. 


THE TRANSFIGURATION OF CHRIST  2o1 


The ‘ Mount’ to which Jesus led the chosen three is 
a veritable ‘ Mount of Vision’ for the Church in all the 
ages. The veil was drawn aside, and there was a true 
revelation of Christ, of His glorious person, of His saving 
work, of His future glory. It was a gracious epiphany, 
a loving manifestation of Christ, the Revealer of the 
Father, surrounded by Moses, the representative of the 
Law : 


Who once received on Horeb’s height 
The eternal laws of truth and right; 


and Elias, the leader of the prophetic band : 


Who caught the still small whisper, higher 
Than storm, than earthquake, or than fire. 


It was a sign from heaven, first to three representative 
men, Peter, the apostle of faith, James, the apostle of 
hope, and John, the apostle of love, and through them to 
all mankind. It was a lesson in divine truth, for there 
the three great doctrines of our holy faith were taught 
clearly and distinctly—the Incarnation, the Atonement, 
the Resurrection-Life. 

In the great design of God the Transfiguration served 
many important purposes. 

It came to ‘the man Christ Jesus’ as an answer to 
prayer, bringing with it the bright assurance of His 
Father’s favour, and the high inspiration of faith in His 
Father’s loving purposes, as well as the sure confirma- 
tion of His redemptive mission, to which both law and 
prophecy had long borne witness. 

It came to the chosen disciples as indisputable evidence 
of the mission of the Christ, as a sure and certain witness 
to the divinity of His Person, as a means of comfort to 


202 THE CHURCH YEAR 


them in the trials which they were about to face, and as 
a light to show them the life beyond the grave. 

It comes to us through all the centuries with its rich 
and precious lessons of the realities of the unseen world, 
of God’s supreme purpose in giving His beloved Son as 
the life of men, and it clearly indicates that all blessing 
centres in the Christ. 

The divine record is simplicity itself, although it deals 
with the loftiest thought. Jesus took the three repre- 
sentative disciples up into a high mountain apart to 
pray. It is most probable that they climbed together 
one of the lofty slopes of majestic snow-clad Hermon, 
know to the Amorites as Shenir, i.e. Mont Blanc, and 
called by the Rabbis the snow-mountain. 

There the Lord Jesus was transfigured before them. 
His face shone with the brightness of the sun, and His 
garments became white as the light, as white as the driven 
snow. There was shown to them as in a flash of glory, 
the greatness of the majesty of Christ. The glorious 
Godhead shone through the earthly tabernacle of mortal 
clay. They saw, in one swift glance of glorious insight, 
the Christ, and knew Him to be the Light of the Eternal. 
‘That was the true Light,’ 


More taintless than the Morning-Star, more kin 
To Heaven than light of Heaven. 


And suddenly two men, Moses and Elias, appearing © 
in glory, talked with Jesus, and spoke of His decease, 
which He was about to accomplish at Jerusalem. 
Strange sight it was for mortals ; for Moses, more than 
fourteen centuries before, had been laid in that unknown 
grave by ‘ Nebo’s lonely mountain ’, when ‘ the angels 
of God upturned the sod, and laid the dead man there’, 


. 


THE TRANSFIGURATION OF CHRIST 203 


while Elias had been translated without death intoheaven 
for more than nine hundred years. Whata contrast was 
there! The disciples, with slow and painful footsteps, 
had climbed the lofty height, but Moses and Elias 
were transported thither by the power of the Almighty. 

But there was more to meet their astonished gaze, and 
to strike upon their entranced ears. A cloud of light 
burst upon their eyes, luminous, suggesting, as Edersheim 
says, the presence of God, revealing yet concealing ; and 
out of the cloud a Voice, saying, ‘ This is My beloved’ 
(or elect) ‘Son: hear Him.’ 

Is it any wonder that Peter voiced the thought of all : 
‘Lord, it is good for us to be here’? And it is good for 
us to contemplate the great lessons of the Transfigura- 
tion. 

The outstanding thought must ever be the testimony 
of God to the Lord Jesus Christ. The Heavenly Voice 
bore witness not to a truth, however important, nor 
yet toa fact, however fruitful in consequences, but to 
a Person, to the Person of Christ, God’s own ‘ beloved 
Son’. Worship is His due. 

The Transfiguration shows the union of the Divine 
and the Human in the Lord Christ. His true Humanity 
is seen, it is evidenced by His prayer, but His Divinity 
shone forth, the Father Himself witnessing to its truth. 

The Transfiguration shows the reality of the Unseen 
World. Life in God is manifested. There, in the light 
of His own Presence, God shows Himself to be the God 
of the living. Moses and Elias had been dead to the 
world for long centuries of time, Moses for a period longer 
than the Saxon invasion is to us, and Elias for a length 
of time as great as the death of William the Conqueror. 

The Transfiguration throws a light upon the Resurrec- 


204 THE CHURCH YEAR 


tion. And as Christ changes our views of life and death, 
so God will change our mortal bodies, and make them 
like unto that of the glorified Christ. 

The Transfiguration shows that the lives of the 
departed in the Lord are marked by conscious intelli- 
gence. Moses and Elias held sweet converse with Christ. 
The lives of the just are lived in the light of God’s own 
presence, not in darkness and gloom. 

The Transfiguration, though it leads up to high 
mountains of privilege, has its outlook upon duty. 
From the Mount of Transfiguration could be seen Gol- 
gotha’s brow, the Calvary of the suffering Saviour. And 
when they came down from the Mount that day it was 
to see the sad sight of the epileptic lad, with foam on his 
lips, torn of body, in weakness and distress, and the baffled 
disciples unable to help or heal. The mount of privilege 
led down to the plain of opportunity. Archbishop 
Alexander sums up the lessons of the Transfiguration in 
a brief statement : ‘Jesus leads His Church in the person 
of His disciples on to a world of thought, up to a world of 
worship, down to a world of work.’ 


de 


ST. BARTHOLOMEW THE APOSTLE 


AUGUST 24 


The Collect 
O Atmicuty and everlasting God, who didst give to thine 
Apostle Bartholomew grace truly to believe and to preach 
thy Word; Grant, we beseech thee, unto thy Church, to 
love that Word which he believed, and both to preach and 
receive the same; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen. 


ST. BARTHOLOMEW THE APOSTLE — 205 


Wouldst thou go forth to bless? be sure of thine own 
ground ! 
Fix well thy centre first, then draw thy circles round! 
Asp. TRENCH. 
Like to the sunlight,—gladdening, brightening all, 
Quiet as dew, which no man heareth fall,— 
So let thine influence be !—E. M. L. G. 
A spirit whose power may touch and bind 
With unconscious influence every mind ; 
Whose presence brings, like some fabled wand, 
The love which a monarch may not command. 
F. R. HAVERGAL. 
He sees, beneath the fig-tree green, 
Nathanael con his sacred lore ; 
Shouldst thou thy chamber seek, unseen, 
He enters through the unopen’d door. 
J. H. NEwMAN. 


T is a strange anomaly that St. Bartholomew’s Day 
should be for ever associated in the human mind 
with one of the greatest tragedies and one of the most 
infamous crimes in all history. Yet such is the case. 
No more fearful scenes were ever enacted than during 
the massacre of St. Bartholomew’s Day, when the streets 
of Paris ran with blood, and France saw many of her 
most faithful sons and daughters martyred for the faith 
they professed, and the fair land of the Franks suffered 
a loss from which she has never recovered, for the 
Huguenots were the saving salt amongst her people. 
The son of Tolmai, or as it is more familiarly known 
to us, Ptolemy, mighty in war, is generally understood 
to be Nathanael of St. John’s Gospel. Nathanael, akin 
to Theodore in the Greek, ‘ gift of God,’ was probably his 
own name, just as Joses is called Barnabas, ‘son of 


206 THE CHURCH YEAR 


consolation, or prophecy.’ St. John never mentions 
Bartholomew, and the three synoptical Gospels never 
mention Nathanael; St. John places Nathanael with 
Philip his intimate friend, and the other three Evangelists 
follow the same course invariably. He always appears 
in the inner circle of the apostles. He has been identi- 
fied with St. Matthew, but there is such a contrast 
between the calling of St. Matthew in the other Gospels, 
to that furnished by St. John, when Philip findeth 
Nathanael, that the identification is very improbable. 

The characterization of the Lord Jesus, ‘ Behold an 
Israelite indeed, in whom is no guile,’ marks out Nathanael 
as a man of singular beauty of life. 

It is perhaps unnecessary to remark that Christ does 
not say sinless, as if he were perfectly holy, free from 
fault of guilt, or fleck or stain of sin, but guileless. 
The best explanation of Scripture is Scripture itself. 
The words of the Psalmist, where he graphically describes 
the blessedness of the man whose transgressions are 
forgiven, and in whose spirit there is no guile, form the 
best commentary (Ps. xxxii. 1, 2). 

‘Guile’ is but the French form of our old Anglo-Saai 
‘wile,’ i.e. craft, cunning, deceit: a deceptive trick 
practised for ensnaring, or an artful stratagem used to 
gain an end. 

Christ knew what was in man; He looked beneath the 
surface, penetrated the merely outward life, read the 
heart, and saw the guiding motive of the inner being. 
‘ Behold,’ said He, ‘a true Israelite.’ The ideal Israel 
is here, one in whom the old Jacob life, supplanting by 
deceit and trickery, is dead, and in whom Israel lives, 
a prince with God, conquering God by prayer, and his 
fellow men with humility. Here is the spiritual son of 


ST. BARTHOLOMEW THE APOSTLE — 207 


Israel, the humble penitent soul, who has renounced the 
hidden things of dishonesty, and no longer shelters him- 
self behind anything, or trusts in his own strength, but 
lays hold of the strength of God, and clings only to Him. 

The guileless life, how beautiful it is! Jesus saw with 
His marvellous spiritual insight Nathanael under the 
fig-tree, and read his heart, as though it were a book. 
What happened beneath the fig-tree is known only to 
God. We have no record of it. But whatever it was, 
it revealed in a moment, as by a flash-light, his inner 
and secret life. It is quite possible that he was praying, 
perhaps in an act of confession to God of some sin which 
burdened his soul. He may have laid his heart bare 
before God, in self-examination, to see if there was any 
wicked way in him. Perhaps he made some vow to God, 
or entered into a covenant, or sought some special bless- 
ing. It may be that it marked a season of spiritual com- 
munion, or of refreshment through the special presence of 
God in his soul, and a renewal of spiritual strength. It 
matters not what were the special features of his ex- 
perience under the fig-tree. Like Jacob, he was alone 
with God, and he came forth to meet one of the rare 
eulogies pronounced by Jesus, ‘ Behold a true Israelite.’ 

But there are spots on the sun, and Nathanael is not 
free from weaknesses. There was a narrowness in his 
character that we do not expect to find. He is not 
without prejudices. He greets Philip’s earnest zeal 
with the chilling words, ‘Can any good thing come out 
of Nazareth ?’ 

Philip meets his objection with great wisdom. He 
already knows the unanswerable apologetic, the appeal 
to experience, ‘ Come and see.’ 

Nathanael’s character again shines forth brightly. His 


208 THE CHURCH YEAR 


openness is apparent, his candour is in evidence. It is 
coupled with courage; he openly avows his heart-felt 
conviction, ‘ Thou art the Son of God, Thou art the King 
of Israel.’ 

Christ rewards his faith, a gracious promise is given to 
him, and indeed to his fellow believers. The spiritual 
Israel will see, like the great patriarch, heaven opened, 
‘and the angels of God ascending and descending upon 
the Son of Man.’ It is a revelation of Jesus as ‘the 
Way’, the true ladder set up from earth to heaven, from 
man to God. It is through the Lord Jesus that the 
broken communication between earth and heaven is 
resumed, not for a brief period, but for all time. He 
opens the kingdom of heaven to all believers. 

Nathanael’s faith increases in its very exercise. He 
goes on from strength to strength. ‘ Believest thou... 
thou shalt see.’ He should be led into deeper and still 
deeper knowledge of Christ. From His omniscience, he 
should soon learn His omnipresence and His omnipo- 
tence. His views of the unseen spiritual realm are to 
be greatly enlarged, and he will be introduced to the 
life of heaven in its ministry of love. 

Nathanael then stands before us in the pages of 
Scripture in all his transparent sincerity. He is a guile- 
less man, and reflects something of the life of Christ, of 
whom it was said that He was without guile. He shows 
himself to be a man of faith, and ready to bear testimony 
to the convictions of his heart. His character is open — 
as day, noble, and true. It would seem as if Jesus saw 
in him the fulfilment of the beatitude, ‘ Blessed are the 
pure in heart: for they shall see God.’ 


. 


209 


ST. MATTHEW THE APOSTLE 
SEPTEMBER 2I 


The Collect 
O ALtmiGcHty Gop, who by thy blessed Son didst call 
Matthew from the receipt of custom to be an Apostle and 
Evangelist ; Grant us grace to forsake all covetous desires, 
and inordinate love of riches, and to follow the same thy 
Son Jesus Christ, who liveth and reigneth with thee and the 
Holy Ghost, one God, world without end. Amen. 


He sat to watch o’er Customs paid, 

A man of scorned and hardened trade... 
But grace within his breast had stirred ; 
There needed but the timely word... 

He rose responsive to the call.—BRIGHT. 

Who yield up all for Thy dear sake, 

Let them of Matthew’s wealth partake.—BRIGHT. 
From all unrighteous mammon, oh give us hearts set free, 
That we, whate’er our calling, may rise and follow Thee. 

BisHop WALSHAM How. 


T. MATTHEW’S original name was Levi, which 
means ‘ joined’, or ‘ attached’. The word has in its 
root idea the thought of affection, and fell from the lips of 
Leah, as the proper name for her third son, as she felt 
that his birth would awaken greater love in the heart 
of Jacob her husband, ‘ Now this time will my husband 
be joined unto me, because I have borne him three sons,’ 
The change of name to Matthew, or more properly 
Mattathias, of which .it is a contraction, with its singu- 
larly beautiful meaning of ‘ the gift of Jehovah’, pro- 
P 


210 THE CHURCH YEAR 


bably took place when he was called by Jesus to the 
office and work of an apostle. There was nothing unusual 
in a change of name, such as this, when a change of 
position took place, or at some great crisis in life. We 
have similar instances in St. Peter, and St. Paul, who 
were given new names for their new work. 

St. Matthew, before he was called by Christ, was a 
‘publican ’, or tax-gatherer. He belonged to a class of 
people hated and despised by the Jews. The very term 
was synonymous in their minds with sinner and heathen, 
the office was held in such supreme contempt. They 
were looked down upon as a vile and degraded set of 
men, to be abhorred of all right-minded people, and 
ostracized by society. The rabbins argued, that as one 
robber disgraced a whole family, so a publican brought 
dishonour upon his relatives. No promise need be kept, 
they said, with questionable morality, with murderers, 
thieves, and publicans. They could give no testimony 
in court, and their very offerings would defile the syna- 
gogue alms-box, or the temple corban. 

The reason of this universal hatred was that most Jews 
considered it unlawful to pay tribute to a heathen power. 
And that a Jew should prove a traitor to his country, 
prove false to the hopes of Israel, and sell his services to 
a Roman, become a creature of their stern conquerors, 
was in the popular mind to sink to the lowest depth of 
infamy. The taxes and customs of provinces were, im 
the first place, sold to the Roman knights, who were 
great capitalists, and then farmed out by them to local 
men, who, having paid a large fixed sum for the privilege, 
endeavoured to exact as much as possible from the 
people, often by cruel extortion, and by the use of 
unscrupulous means. 


ST. MATTHEW THE APOSTLE 211 


There are many most impressive and helpful lessons in 
connexion with St. Matthew. 

The call of Matthew, and his quick response, how full 
of instruction it is! He tells the story himself, in a most 
graphic way: Jesus ‘saw a man, named Matthew, sitting 
at the receipt of custom : and He saith unto him, Follow 
Me. And he arose, and followed Him.’ 

There was first of all cheerful obedience on the part of 
Matthew. He no sooner heard Jesus call him to His 
service, than he obeyed immediately. The call of grace, 
the voice of love, led to instant obedience. The heart 
of the man yielded to the personal attraction of Jesus, 
and his will to His personal authority and influence. 

The decision was immediate, and it was followed by 
the appropriate action. There was no questioning, no 
delay, no tarrying for a more convenient season. ‘ He 
arose, and followed Him.’ 

St. Matthew displayed the spirit of the most splendid 
self-sacrifice. He forsook his calling, a most lucrative 
one, affording an easy road to wealth. He faced an out- 
look which had nothing before it but difficulty and trial, 
certain poverty and probable persecution, possibly 
death. He humbly yielded up all for Christ, he boldly 
faced all for Christ. 

St. Matthew showed as well the most magnificent 
courage. He had to face not only opposition, but that 
which is far more difficult to meet, railing and ridicule 
from his friends. 

There was shown also by St. Matthew the most 
generous hospitality. In it he magnified the grace of 
God, what great things Christ had done for him. He 
brought together the Saviour and those who needed the 
help of the loving Christ. 

Ba 


212 THE CHURCH YEAR 


The decision to follow Jesus, his cheerful and ready 
obedience, his genuine spirit of self-sacrifice, brought 
with them all a rich reward. He became the author of 
the First Gospel story, and won for himself a name richer 
far in glory than that gained by many kings and mighty 
men of earth. His name shall never die, and thousands 
have derived blessing through his labours. Riches take 
wings and fly away, ‘we brought nothing into this 
world, and it is certain we can carry nothing out,’ but 
the truth ever lives on, and souls won for Christ are 
saved in an eternal salvation. There are ‘ words writ in 
waters ’, and saddest of all epitaphs is that, ‘ Here lies 
one whose name was writ in water,’ but of Matthew it 
might be said that he left behind, 

A voice that in the distance far away 
Wakens the slumbering ages. 


de 


ST. MICHAEL AND ALL ANGELS _ 
SEPTEMBER 29 


The Collect 
O EVERLASTING Gop, who hast ordained and constituted 
the services of Angels and men in a wonderful order ; Mer- 
cifully grant, that as thy holy Angels alway do thee service 
in heaven, so by thy appointment they may succour and 
defend us on earth ; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen. 


And thou, at last, 
When time itself must die, 
Shalt sound that dread and piercing blast, 
. To wake the dead, and rend the vaulted sky, 
And summon all to meet the Omniscient ‘ 
Judge on high. J. H. Newman. 


ST. MICHAEL AND ALL ANGELS 213 


The angels come and go, the messengers of God. 
R. H. STODDARD. 
Angels, unseen, attend the saints, 
And bear them in their arms, 
To cheer their spirit when it faints, 
And guard their life from harms.—JoHn NEWTON. 


God called the nearest angels who dwell with Him above, 
The tender one was Pity, and the dearest one was Love. 
J. G. WHITTIER. 


HE spiritual world, which to mortals is the realm 

of the unseen, is a great and glorious reality. The 
Bible treats it everywhere as belonging to the certainties 
of existence. The sacred writers, speaking under in- 
spiration, use language of conviction; they are moving 
in the region of fact, not of theory, just as the scientist 
writes of the physical world when he wishes to explain 
it. There are more than six hundred passages in the 
Bible used of the Holy Spirit to teach mankind the truths 
of the spiritual, the unseen, but most real world. 

God, the great Father, the Supreme Spirit, has placed 
in His universe of being vast numbers of spirits, for the 
purpose of carrying out His holy will and pleasure. The 
Scriptures speak of them as ‘an innumerable company 
of angels’, and Milton loved to think that : 

Millions of spiritual creatures walk the earth 
Unseen, both when we wake and when we sleep. 


The subject of Angelology has not received the atten- 
tion it deserves, from the fear of Angelolatry, a very real 
danger, which must be jealously guarded against, for 
man has ever been prone to creature worship. But while 
we watch against any view of angels which would 
derogate from the person and work of Christ, with whose 


214 THE CHURCH YEAR 


glorious ministry they are hardly to be mentioned in 
the same breath, still we do well to remember the im- 
portant revelations God has made concerning them. 
The nature of angels has been made clear by the 
inspired Word. ‘Are they not all ministering spirits, 
sent forth to do service for the sake of them that shall 
inherit salvation ?’ (Heb.i.14, R.V.). They are spirits. 
They are invisible, coming and going, unseen to mortal 
eyes. The comparisons of Scripture are suggestive. 
When they minister in the world, they are likened to 
winds; when before the throne, to flames of fire. God 
is thus able to transform them and to ally them to 
material substances as His work requires. Their spiritual 
natures fit them for communication with the spiritual 
in man. They are ministering spirits, serving God 
and His children upon earth. They are messengers, as 
their name implies, sent forth on a ministry of love. 
The ministry of the angels is also described in God’s 
Word. They are ministers of grace. They carry 
messages from heaven to earth (Matt. i. 20). They guide 
the people of God in the path of life (Exod. xiv. 19). 
They are the defenders of God’s children against spiritual 
enemies and bodily dangers (2 Kings vi. 16, 17; Acts 
xii. 7). They are the guardians of Christ’s little ones 
(Matt. xviii. 10). They watch for the spirit of repentance 
in the hearts of men, and fill heaven with joy when the 
sinner turns to God (Luke xv. 10). They carry the 
believer’s soul at death to the paradise of God (Luke 
XVl. 22). They are ministers of comfort to the Christian 
in difficulty and perplexity (Acts xxvii. 23). They have 
a thousand and one missions of love and ministries of 
grace, serving Christ and Christ’s redeemed without 
ceasing. They have a ministry of judgement as well as 


ae 


ST. MICHAEL AND ALL ANGELS 215 


of mercy, for, at the Saviour’s second coming, they will 
separate the just from the unjust, and gather Christ’s 
saints about His glorious person. 

There are various ranks of angels in God’s service. 
It would appear that there are seven gradations in 
the angelic hierarchy. They are described as: arch- 
angels, principalities, authorities (powers), thrones, 
dominions, and spirits. 

Michael the archangel, whose name is so full of 
meaning, ‘who is like unto God,’ has been identified 
by many scholars with the Angel of the Covenant, the 
Lord Jesus Christ Himself. The connexion is certainly 
very close, but the language of St. Jude is more in 
keeping with an archangel than it would be of the 
Divine Son. Michael is in any case a great prince, to 
whom is entrusted a mighty work for God and His 
Church. Gabriel, who bears a name which means 
“man of God’, or ‘hero of God’, appears ever in the 
spirit of sympathetic interest, bringing good cheer to 
the heart. 

But however rich in blessing is the ministry of angels 
to man, it must never be dissociated from the Person 
and work of our Lord Jesus Christ. We are three times 
in Scripture forbidden to offer any prayers to them. And 
indeed why should we wish to do so ? 

The angels’ Lord Himself is nigh 
To them that love His name ; 
Ready to save them when they cry, 

And put their foes to shame. 


te 


216 THE CHURCH YEAR 


ST. LUKE THE EVANGELIST 
OCTOBER 18 


The Collect 
ALMIGHTY Gop, who calledst Luke the Physician, whose 
praise is in the Gospel, to be an Evangelist, and Physician 
of the soul; May it please thee, that, by the wholesome 
medicines of the doctrine delivered by him, all the diseases 
of our souls may be healed ; through the merits of thy Son 
Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen. 


The witness of the Saviour’s life, 

The great Apostle’s chosen friend 
Through weary years of toil and strife, 

And still found faithful to the end. 

ABP. MACLAGAN. 

Is it not Luke, Physician Heaven-beloved ? 
The everlasting Gospel’s word his praise ? 
He in our firmament has lit new rays; 
Oh! by his later star illumined, we 

The Christ behold. MoRGAN. 


T. LUKE, the beloved physician, the Evangelist 
‘whose praise in the Gospel’ is in all the churches, 
bears a Greek name. It has a most beautiful mean- 
ing, in thorough keeping with his life and character, 
‘light-giving.’ 

The details of his life are scanty. He is only men- 
tioned three times in the New Testament by name. 
In the Epistle to the Colossians we read of “ Luke the 
beloved physician ’, in that to Timothy, St. Paul says 
‘only Luke is with me’, and in that to Philemon, 
St. Paul speaks of him as a fellow-labourer. 


ST. LUKE THE EVANGELIST 217 


Tradition has been busy, however, where history has 
been silent. The early Fathers thought that he was 
of Jewish origin, but it seems more probable that he 
was a Gentile, first converted to Judaism and then to 
Christianity. It was a general opinion in the early 
Church that he was one of the seventy disciples, sent 
out by our Blessed Lord. Theophylact thought that 
he was one of the two disciples who walked with Jesus 
on the Emmaus road. The pious opinion that he was 
a painter, as well as a physician, rests only on the state- 
ment of Nicephorus (A. D. 980), and probably arose from 
the artistic quality in his writings, which are crowded 
with picturesque features and effects. He was beyond 
question a word painter. 

It is quite possible, however, to form a definite idea 
of his character, and to gain a fairly good view of his 
personality. 

St. Luke is first seen clearly, as a companion of St. Paul 
in that critical hour when the religion of Jesus Christ, 
which had been the ‘Light of Asia’, passed to Europe 
as the dawn breaking upon the nations and arising in 
glory to become the very ‘ Light of the World’. St. Luke 
himself furnished the picture, limned” on page more 
lasting than any canvas, of the man of Macedonia utter- 
ing his piercing cry, voicing the deepest spiritual need, 
‘Come over ... andhelp us.’ ‘When he (St. Paul) had 
seen the vision, straightway we sought to go forth into 
Macedonia.’ He became the loved and trusted friend 
of St. Paul, in a life of the most fruitful service. 

St. Luke is described as a physician. 

He was a member of a learned profession, which has 
been honoured throughout all history not only by the 
splendid men who have embraced it as a vocation, but 


218 THE CHURCH YEAR 


also by its incalculable services to suffering humanity. 
In St. Luke’s day it was the most lucrative of all the 
professions. The healing art in those early days was 
practically a secret, known only to the select few, 
handed down from father to son, looked upon as super- 
natural in its character. The physician was a man of 
liberal education and of intellectual tastes. It is 
worthy of note that such a man as St. Luke, with his 
highly cultivated intelligence and scientific acquirements, 
so fully accepted the Gospel of Christ. 

St. Luke became an Evangelist. 

He practised as a physician and preached as an 
evangelist. He was the first of that noble band of 
“medical missionaries ’, those devoted men and women 
who give promise of solving the missionary problems of 
the far east. The division of labour that dissociated 
the healing of the body from that of the soul has long 
done injury to the missionary work of the Church. 

But it is as a writer of the imspired. Word that 
St. Luke’s chief glory lies. He has given us the Gospel of 
Humanity. Its key-note is the goodwill of God towards 
men, the sweet gospel of His divine pity, the message of 
His glorious sal¥ation, the universality of His work of re- 
deeming love, the free and full forgiveness of God to all 
who come to Christ in trusting faith. He is the historian 
of the birth of Christ, of His infant years, of His holy 
childhood. He paints the picture of the Christ, the loving 
Saviour, the gracious Redeemer, as Christus Consolator, 
seeking the lost, caring for the wretched, the poor, and 
the despised. In this Gospel, as Dean Farrar points out, 
Christ comes with a carol and departs with a benediction. 

St. Luke’s pen also gave us the wonderful account 
of the foundation of the Christian Church, ‘ The Acts 


ST. LUKE THE EVANGELIST 219 


of the Apostles’ as we know the book, but re-named 
in our own day, ‘ The Acts of the Holy Spirit.’ It is 
the marvellous record of what God hath wrought in 
His saving work through the instrumentality of man, 
informed and inhabited by His Holy Spirit. We can 
never estimate, humanly speaking, the debt we owe 
to St. Luke in his graphic narrative. But for his pen, 
many of the chief characters so faithfully delineated 
would be unknown to us. Stephen is an instance in 
point. If he did not stand before us in the sacred 
page, he would have had no existence to us, and his part 
in the drama of human history would have ‘ been clean 
forgotten and out of mind’. Whereas, as St. Luke 
pictures him for us, in the sublime tragedy of his death, 
we have one of the noblest creations in all literature. 
The dramatic description of his martyrdom is unrivalled 
in its fascinating power upon the mind. We need but 
little imagination to see for ourselves the angel-face in 
its upward gaze, the flash of heaven’s own light is on it 
as he sees the ‘ glory of God ’, and we can hear his accents 
of forgiveness, as he prays, ‘ Lord, lay not this sin to 
their charge.’ 

St. Luke was a man with a most affectionate nature. 
He had a great capacity for love. St. Paul could call 
him, after long experience of him, ‘ the beloved.’ 

He was a man of most marked modesty of character. 
Never once, in his important writings, does he tell us 
his name, nor yet furnish any hint of his identity. He 
paints Christ, he places the results of Christ’s work in 
the light, but he remains himself in the dark. 

St. Luke was wise to win souls. He knew well the 
art, and practised it constantly, of healing them. He 
took them to Jesus the great Physician. 


220 THE CHURCH YEAR 


St. Luke’s character was marked by faithful con- 
sistency. The story of his faithfulness, of his moral 
heroism, of his sincere devotion, of his perfect friendship, 
is told by St. Paul in five short words, ‘ Only Luke is 
with me.’ He followed him to prison, and stood ready 
to follow him to death. 

The foundation of his character was his faith in 
Christ. It was Christ in him, the hope of glory, that 
made him the man he was. It was the Spirit of Christ 
working through him that made him such an instrument 


of blessing in all the ages of the Church’s history. His — 


name is honoured wherever Christ is known and loved, 
it is, as it signifies, a guiding light leading the mind of 
man into the truth of God. Of him it may be truly 
said, that he held forth the Word of Life. 


te 


ST. SIMON AND ST. JUDE, APOSTLES 
OCTOBER 28 


The Collect 
O Atmicuty Gop, who hast built thy Church upon the 
foundation of the Apostles and Prophets, Jesus Christ him- 
self being the head corner-stone ; Grant us so to be joined 
together in unity of spirit by their doctrine, that we may 


be made an holy temple acceptable unto thee; through 


Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen. 


Thou to wax fierce 
In the cause of the Lord, 
To threat and to pierce 
With the heavenly sword.—J. H. NEwMAn. 


‘ 
' 
} 
{ 


ST. SIMON AND ST. JUDE, APOSTLES ar 


One, whose zeal by Thee enlighten’d 
Burn’d anew with nobler flame ; 
One, the kinsman of Thy childhood, 
Brought at last to know Thy name. 
JOHN ELLERTON. 
So works the All-wise, our services dividing 
Not as we ask: 
For the world’s profit, by our gifts deciding 
Our duty task. J. H. Newman. 


HERE was a great purpose to be served, in the plan 

adopted by our Lord Jesus Christ, in sending out 
His chosen apostles and disciples ‘by two and two’. He 
at once secured mutual co-operation, help, and sympathy. 
The deficiences of one would also be made up by the 
other. 

St. Simon was surnamed the Zealot. He is known 
in Scripture as Simon Zelotes, or the Kanaanite. The 
term Kanaanite does not refer to the old nationality, 
but is from the Hebrew, and is equivalent to the Greek 
‘Zelotes’, meaning zeal. He had evidently belonged to 
the fanatical sect which had taken the last words of 
Mattathias, the father of Judas Maccabaeus, as their 
motto, ‘ Be ye zealous for the Law, and give your lives 
for the covenant of your fathers.’ The very name 
shows that he was an intensely patriotic man, filled with 
an undying love for his native land, and ready to suffer, 
and if need be die, for its freedom. There was coupled 
with this burning love for his country a devout zeal 
for the honour of the Law. The hatred on the part of 
the Zealots of the Roman yoke was an absorbing passion, 
which often swept every other consideration aside and 
led to many excesses. 


222 THE CHURCH YEAR 


St. Jude is a character of peculiar interest. His 
surname is given in some texts as Lebbaeus, in others as 
Thaddaeus. The etymology of the names is obscure, 
indeed doubtful. It has been suggested that they are 
derived from the Hebrew /eed, ‘ heart ’, and the Aramaic 
thad, ‘breast,’ or from hodah, ‘praise.’ There was a certain 
fitness, then, in the coupling of St. Simon with St. Jude; 
zeal for the Lord walking hand in hand with courage. 

St. Jude was of the blood royal, a descendant of the 
great King David. He called himself, ‘ servant of Jesus 
Christ, and brother of James,’ who was known as the 
Lord’s brother, which is generally taken to mean the 
cousin, of the Lord Jesus. There is a very interesting 
personal touch in the story which Hegessipus tells of 
the emperor Domitian. It is said that the emperor, 
hearing that there were men still living related by ties of 
blood to Him whom Christians adored as Lord over all, the 
King immortal, eternal, and learning that to the descen- 
dants of David there was a promise according to the Jews 
of universal dominion, he was conscience-stricken at the 
thought of his many crimes. His father Vespasian had 
made diligent search for any of the royal seed through- 
out Palestine. Domitian banished the apostle John 
from his episcopal oversight at Ephesus to the quarries 
of the rocky isle of Patmos. He ordered his secret service 
informers to bring before him any of the ‘ relations of our 
Lord’ who could be found. But he soon dismissed his 
fears when he saw the grandsons of Jude, with their 
poor peasant garments, their horny hands of toil, and 
when he heard them state that their sole earthly pos- 
sessions consisted of some thirty-nine acres of land, 
on which they paid taxes to the emperor. And his 
mind was set at rest when he learned from their lips that 


ST. SIMON AND ST. JUDE, APOSTLES 223 


the kingdom of Christ is not of this world, but heavenly, 
belonging to the heart and mind, in a spiritual kingship 
over the consciences of men. He dismissed them 
altogether when they told him that at the end of the 
world Christ would appear in glory, and that he would 
judge both the quick and the dead. For his fears were 
only for the present, the future and unseen had no terrors 
for him. 

There are lessons for our times from the life and charac- 
ter of Simon the Zealot. For Christianityappeals not only 
to the intellect, but moves the heart as well. It demands 
earnestness of purpose in the face of the evils it sets 
itself to cure. Indeed it is born of the Spirit of God, 
the Spirit of fire, the Spirit of burning. The Christian 
should be zealous, boiling with enthusiasm as the word 
really means, full of ardour for the cause of Christ, and 
ready to make sacrifices for its extension in the world. 
The need of the day is that of men who are like Basil, 
of whom it was said that he was ‘a-fire for God’. When 
some one asked what kind of man Basil was, the story 
is that he was given a vision of a pillar of fire, with this 
motto: Talis est Basilius—‘ He is all on fire, alight 
for God.’ Weneed more men of the spirit of the scholarly 
Bishop Jewel, who declared: ‘I rejoice that my body 
is exhausted in the labours of my holy calling.’ And 
the Church has much to gain, and nothing to lose, when 
there are found in its ranks men who feel like the saintly 
Andrew Melville, when fault was found with him for 
his burning zeal: ‘If you see my fire go downwards, 
set your foot upon it and put it out ; but if it go upwards, 
let it return to its own place.’ 

And there are lessons, too, from the character of 
St. Jude, if his name is an expression of his life. For 


224 THE CHURCH YEAR 


the world sadly needs, not only men of thought and 
action, but also men of ‘ heart’: 


Sympathy is welcome, like the flowers, 
And hungry hearts are waiting for ours, 
In this world, far and near. 


And what greater need is there in the world to-day 
than that of courage. Moral courage is not only much 
more difficult to attain than physical courage, but it is 
also ararer virtue. It is this great quality that St. Peter 
has in mind, when he writes: ‘Add to your faith 
virtue,’ that is, moral courage. It is that resoluteness 
of purpose which enables a man to face all, and dare all, 
and brave all for a principle which he believes to be true. 
It is that high resolve which aims at the fulfilment of 
life’s purpose. It was this that enabled the noble 
Milton, after five years of blindness, to undertake his 
tremendous literary tasks, and to say in that spirit of 
faith from which true courage springs, that he did not 
“bate a jot of heart or hope, but still bore up and steered 
“ Uphillward”’’. Love is its motive power. Courage is 
associated with the affections—a courageous heart, and 
we know that it is ‘ perfect love that casteth out fear’. 

The Gospels everywhere bear witness to the sublime 
courage of Christ. He faced without flinching every 
form of man’s hatred and opposition. He met at every 
point the attacks of the adversary of souls. He never 
swerved from His high purpose of redeeming love, though 
it led to cross-crowned Calvary. And itis to Christ that 
we must look, if we are to have the true spirit of Christian 
zeal, the mind which was in Christ Jesus, filled with 
a sympathy divine, and a heart of courage to love the 
truth and live it in our lives. 


225 


ALL SAINTS’ DAY 
NOVEMBER I 


The Collect 

O Atmicuty Gop, who hast knit together thine elect in 
one communion and fellowship, in the mystical body of thy 
Son Christ our Lord; Grant us grace so to follow thy 
blessed Saints in all virtuous and godly living, that we may 
come to those unspéakable joys, which thou hast prepared 
for them that unfeignedly love thee ; through Jesus Christ 
our Lord. Amen. 


Saints of the early dawn of Christ, 
Saints of imperial Rome, 
Saints of the martyred faithful ones, 
Saints of the modern home ; 
Saints of the marts and busy streets, 
Saints of the squalid lanes, 
Saints of the silent solitudes, 
Of the prairies and the plains. 
Epwin Hatcu, D.D. 
One feast, of holy days the crest, 
I, though no Churchman, love to keep, 
All-Saints—the unknown good that rest 
In God’s still memory folded deep. 
avR. owner: 


HE Festival of All Saints is full of poetry in its 

conception. It is the day of all the Christian 
heroes and saints of God, who have loved and followed 
their Leader, the great Captain of our Salvation. 

Its position in the Church Year, so near its close, is 
in itself significant. It seems fitting that it should 
precede Advent, which so soon follows. It strikes 

Q 


226 THE CHURCH YEAR 


a fitting note of holy preparation and of glad expecta- 
tion, for the King is coming to claim His own. 

The historical value of the day should not be over- 
looked. There is true philosophy in the method em- 
ployed. It was Thucydides who said that ‘ history is 
philosophy learned from examples’. And the Church 
of God uses the day to bring home to every fresh school 
of disciples the imperishable lessons of the spiritual 


experiences of those who have followed Christ in His 


holy life. 

It is with joy and gladness that we thus remember 
‘the noble army of martyrs’, and all who have joined 
that ‘ God-lit cloud of witnesses ’, yea, all who follow 
the Lamb in His holy life, not only where ‘ beyond 
these voices there is peace’, but amidst the labour 
and turmoil of the world. For to-day is the day of all 
God’s saints, of all holy and true souls in all ages, in 
all climes, and of all conditions, who, trusting in Jesus, 
and yielding themselves to His will, filled with His 
Spirit, have loved and served Him. They are the joy 
of heaven’s courts, and the salt of the earth, who save 
the world from corruption and decay: 

Such lived not in the past alone, 
But tread to-day the unheeding street, 
And stairs to sin and famine known 
Sing with welcome to their feet ; 
The den they enter grows a shrine, 
The grimy sash an oriel burns, 
Their cup of water warms like wine, 
Their speech is filled from heavenly urns. 


We keep alive the memory of the brave soldiers of the 
cross, of all who have followed the gleam, of all who have 
loved the truth, of all who have stood for the right, of 


~~.) ee 


ALL SAINTS’ DAY 227 


all who have endured hardness and suffered reproach 
for His dear name, of all who have met and suffered 
cruel persecution ; and we recount their brave and self- 
sacrificing deeds, and rejoice in their lives of loving service 
for Christ and His Church. 

Not one is forgotten of God. The world seldom knows 
its greatest benefactors. The Church is sometimes forget- 
ful of her noblest sons, or blind to their highest services, 
as when, under the Old Covenant, the fathers stoned 
the prophets who in a later generation were held in 
highest honour. And of the Lord Jesus Himself, the 
‘King of saints’, it is written that ‘He came unto His 
own, and His own received Him not’. But God knows 
His saints, however poor, however despised of men, 
though they be ill-used and persecuted, and treated as 
were the apostles, as the off-scouring of all things. God 
sees beneath their poverty, and beneath what men think is 
ignorance, their true life, the glory of the light of Christ, 
and whatever their earthly lot they walk with Him in 
white, for they are worthy. 

A modern poet has sung a plaintive lay, recording 
what is thought to be the neglect of ‘ The saints that 
have no day’. But there are none such with God, in 
heaven’s roll of honour, or for that matter in the Church 
of Christ : 


With golden letters set in brave array 
Throughout the Church’s record of the year, 
The great names of historic saints appear, 

Those ringing names that, as a trumpet, play 

Uplifting music o’er a sordid way, 

And sound high courage to our earth-dulled ear. 
But, underneath those strains, I seem to hear 
The silence of the saints that have no day. 


Q2 


228 THE CHURCH YEAR 


The Church would not forget even one, and for that 
reason she commemorates all the saints of the most High 
on this glad day. What men call failure upon earth 
may in the record of heaven be the very highest success. 
‘They never fail who die in a great cause.’ And God, 
who sees all, and knows all, sees that justice is done 
to His own. The wisest of men make mistakes. ‘ There 
are,’ said Colton, ‘many saints who have been canonized 
who ought to have been cannonaded.’ But God never 
makes mistakes, and every child of God is able to take 
the words of Thackeray, and make them his own, as he 
moralizes on the world’s estimate, ‘What boots it 
whether it be Westminster or a little country spire 
which covers your ashes ?’ Yea, what matter when we 
know that, 


Behind the dim unknown, 
Standeth God within the shadow, keeping watch above His 
own! 


We do not pray to the saints, nor seek the intercession 
of those who have passed beyond the vail. ‘ Let not our 
religion,’ as St. Augustine said, ‘ be the cultus of dead 
men. For God has raised His voice of warning against 
trust in man whether living or dead, as Origen points 
out, fitly producing as an example, ‘ Cursed is the man 
who hopeth in man.’ But we do commemorate the 
glorious victories of faith, and we remember that every 
good and perfect gift is from God, that all is of grace. 
We take to heart the inspiring lesson, that the saints of 
God were mortals like ourselves, and that, 

They with united breath 


Ascribe their conquest to the Lamb, 
Their triumph to His death. 


ALL SAINTS’ DAY 229 


All Saints’ Day is full of comfort to Christian souls. 
It is instinct with hope. It fills the mind with gracious 
memories of the past, and of undying hope for the 
future. 

All Saints’ Day furnishes the Christian with a call to 
service for Christ and humanity. It is for this reason 
that the striking lesson is read of the roll of heroes 
and of holy men and women, who seeing Him who is 
invisible, lived for God and good, and we are taught to 
pray for grace to enable us to follow them, ‘ in all virtuous 
and godly living.’ 

All Saints’ Day reminds us of the unity of the Church 
of God, lifts our eyes above the scenes of sense and 
time, and brings to our view the fullness of privilege in 
the Church of Christ : 

One family we dwell in Him, 
One Church, above, beneath, 


knit together in one communion and fellowship, in the 
mystical body of Christ. 


BY THE SAME AUTHOR. NEW AND ENLARGED EDITION 


THE FRUIT OF THE SPIRIT 


By the Vex. W. J. ARMITAGE, M.A., Pu.D. 


RECTOR OF ST. PAUL'S, AND ARCHDEACON OF HALIFAX, N.S. 


With Introductory Note by the Rev. W. H. GRIFFITH THOMAS, D.D. 
Principal of Wycliffe Hall, Oxford. 


I'rom the Press of Marsuatt Bros., ‘Keswick House,’ Paternoster Row, London, 
AND OF ALL BOOKSELLERS. 


The ARCHBISHOP OF TORONTO, Primate Professor A. V. G. ALLEN, D.D., of the 
of all Canada, writes : Cambridge Theological School : 


‘Your valuable book, ... I feel sure ‘Its merit is out of all proportion to its 
that I will find it very useful.’ size. I have found it most interesting 
The BisHop of Nova ScoTiA: and helpful. It is a practical treatise on 


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subject is a most interesting one, ably and | ng. 


comprehensively treated.’ Church Work: 
The Right Rev. FREDERICK COURTNEY! ‘This valuable contribution to the litera. 
D.D., New York: ture of the subject . . . deeply spiritual yet 
‘Good, sound, helpful, spiritual: likely practical. Its simple angncge and _inte- 
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The Rev. R. A. FALCONER, D.D., Litt.D., | ™2"Y- & 
President of Toronto University : The Presbyterian Witness: 
*Lam sure it will be very much treasured ‘The theme of the book is that lovely, 


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Rev. Canon Vroom, D.D.. Professor of | Garden. Gems of choice quotations flash 
Divinity in King's College Windsor, N.S.; | 0" many pages, and well-sclected illustrative 
*} have no doubt many ofthe ‘Clergy incidents feather many an arrow. It is 


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addresses on the subject.’ Dr. Armitage. If he has more discourses 


—- of this kind in store—so bright, so pointed, 
The Hon. H. S. BLAKE, K.C., Toronto: | <6 concise, so intelligible, sand so easily 


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ower and work of the Third Person of the y 
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The Rev. Dr. REXFORD, Principal of the | 2. ee ’ 
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in ing the spiritual life.’ e teaching is practical, spiritual anc 
IT ee Gan O'McawA. LLD., | iiaminating inva high degree.” 
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The gracious working of the Spirit as “We welcome the book as a real con- 


touching the formation of Christian charac- | tribution to devotional Christian literature. 
ter is dealt with in a most interesting and | It may be read with equal appreciation and 


helpful manner.’ profit by Churchmen and Non-Churchinen.» 
The Rev. Dyson HAGuE, M.A , London, The Canadian Churchman: 

Ontario : ‘We heartily commend this little book to 
‘It is admirable in every way.’ the diligent study of all Christians of every 


The Rev. Canon Copy, D.D., Rector of | "@me- 
St. Paul's Church and Professor of Dogma- The Rev. Principal MILLER, D.C.L., in 
tic Theology in Wycliffe College, Toronto: | the Editorial Correspondence of Zhe West- 
‘The style is concise, lucid and attractive. | s2inster: 
The pages abound in apt quotation and ‘It makes an excellent manual for devo- 
helpful illustration. You have added one | tional reading. The chief Christian graces 
to the number of devotional books which | are treated in clear, well-written style and 
really. help and interest. The subject is | are expressed with the fervour of con- 
especially timely.’ viction.* 


f 


BY THE SAME AUTHOR 


THE CITIES OF REFUGE 


By the Ven. W. J. ARMITAGE, M.A., Pu.D. 


RECTOR OF ST. PAUL’S, CANON AND ARCHDEACON OF HALIFAX, N.S. 


WITH A PREFATORY NOTE 
By the Ricut Rev. H.C. G. MOULE, D.D. 


BISHOP OF DURHAM 


‘To me it has carried many a message of instruction, suggestion and 
encouragement.’—The BisHop or DuRHAM. 


‘It bears evidence of wide reading, deep thought and earnest spirituality.’ 
—The Bisuop oF Nova Scoria. 


‘I consider that for a purely spiritual, devotional, scriptural standpoint, 
the book will prove most useful..—The Bishop or MonTREAL. 


‘It is both interesting and instructive, and should bring help and blessing 
to many.’—The BisHop oF ONTARIO. 


‘The hisforical incidents you have made to gather around the names of the 
Cities are full and accurate, while the spiritual truths presented forcibly 
exhibit Christ.’— Professor JoHn Currie, D.D., Presbyterian College, 
Halifax. 


‘ The author has availed himself of light from many quarters, critical and 
anti-critical.’—Rev. C. A. BropiE-BrockwELL, Professor of Semitic Litera- 
ture, McGill University, Montreal. 


‘The symbolic meaning of the names is brought out in a most helpful 
manner.’—Rev. J. STUART HoLpDEN. 


« A message of help and cheer for all who are fortunate enough to read it.’ 
—The New Era. { 


‘It is spiritual without that lack of scholarship noticeable in many devo- 
tional works; and scholarly without pedantry and that absence of the 


devotional spirit which marks too many books upon the Old Testament.’— 
Church Work. 


‘The reasoning is deeply reverent, logical and inspiring.’— Ontario 
Churchman. 
‘Tt takes “ Christians away from superficial differences and alienations to 


the summer land of the Cross”.’—Rev. E. M. Saunpers, D.D., in Halifax 
Herald, : 


‘I have found it most suggestive and interesting.’—Principal O’ MgaRA, 
LL.D., Wycliffe College, Toronto. 
’ 


‘ 


: 


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DEMCO 38-297 


ot Ubraries 
WDD 
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Div. 242.3 A733C 552754 


